Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny's wife detained during protest in Moscow

Wife of Russia's leading Opposition figure and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, Yulia Navalny, has been detained among several others during an "unsanctioned" rally here demanding his release.

According to a report by Russia Today, footage of the detention available on social media shows several police officers placing Yulia into a van and driving away, as supporters chanted her name.

Yulia was one of the protesters calling for the release of Alexey Navalny.

According to a report by Sputnik, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Perm after which several people were detained after police warned against participating in the unauthorised event.

While the majority of protesters were detained at the rally in Samara, the authorities have refused to state the exact of those detained.

Meanwhile, no clashes have been reported.

A similar protest was held on Saturday. Navalny's supporters demand his release from jail, where he is being kept pending a court ruling on whether he violated the terms of his parole, RT said.

He had arrived in Moscow on January 18 from Germany.

Five months ago, he had reached Berlin in a coma after being poisoned by Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia during the Soviet years. Several Western officials along with Navalny himself have openly blamed Russia for the poisoning, while the Kremlin has denied the allegations.

Navalny was placed on the country's federal wanted list during his time in Germany at the request of the Federal Penitentiary Service FSIN's, which had accused him in December 2020 of violating probation terms in a fraud case that was dismissed by Navalny as "politically motivated".

Meanwhile, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and the European Union have called for Navalny's release.

( With inputs from ANI )