Kremlin says police response to Alexei Navalny protests 'justified'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that calls by Navalny's allies for Russians to take to the streets following his jailing on Tuesday were a provocation.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russian riot police were justified in using harsh methods to break up protests against the jailing of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and that illegal protest activity needed to be stamped out.

FILE PHOTO: Protestors rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia January 31, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo (REUTERS)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that calls by Navalny's allies for Russians to take to the streets following his jailing on Tuesday were a provocation.

Police on Tuesday detained more than 1,400 people rallying in support Navalny, the OVD-Info monitoring group said.

Navalny was handed a three-and-a-half-year sentence by a Moscow court but will serve two years and eight months in jail because of time previously spent under house arrest