Despite 3,500 arrests and reports of violence, Moscow insists few people turned out

The Kremlin has broken its silence on Russia’s biggest opposition protest in years, claiming the size of the demonstrations against Vladimir Putin were overstated and accusing the US of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs.

A record 3,500 people were arrested as police tried to shut down unsanctioned rallies in 10 time zones across the country in support of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who was jailed upon returning to Russia after being treated for a suspected federal security service poisoning.

Analysis: release of investigation into Putin’s wealth shows opposition leader is still determined to expose Russian president

For more than a decade, Vladimir Putin has refused to say Alexei Navalny’s name in public, referring to him as “that gentleman”, or more recently, the “patient”, a reference to his suspected poisoning by FSB agents.

In the logic of politics, Putin is simply trying not to give the Russian opposition leader free advertising. But his linguistic game also points to a rivalry that has become deeply personal, stoked by a decade of attacks against friends and family, and made urgent by the understanding that Navalny will not back down despite the threat of death by poisoning or prison.

What happens to Vladimir Putin’s opponent after his arrest depends on what officials think they can get away with

Since Alexei Navalny emerged as a top critic of Vladimir Putin more than a decade ago, the Kremlin has done its utmost to smother him: tying him up in courtrooms, locking him down under house arrest, and taking his brother as hostage by sentencing him to a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Finally, a decision appeared to have been taken to eliminate him when he was allegedly poisoned by Russia’s FSB spy agency. With that operation a failure and Navalny defying the Kremlin to return to Moscow, Putin’s dilemma remains what to do with one of his most stalwart and effective critics.

Opposition figure picked up after landing in home country following recovery from poisoning

The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on his return from treatment abroad after a suspected poisoning attempt on his life by Russia’s FSB spy agency.

Navalny, whose investigations into corruption in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle have sparked protests and angered the country’s most powerful men, had vowed to return home despite signs the Kremlin was preparing to arrest him.

The prominent Kremlin critic, poisoned in August, is under investigation for allegedly mishandling $5m private donations

Russian authorities have ramped up the pressure on the prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny by levelling new fraud accusations against him.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s main investigative agency, said on Tuesday it had opened a new criminal case against Navalny on charges of large-scale fraud related to his alleged mishandling of $5m in private donations to his Anti-Corruption Foundation and other organisations.

Russian president denies Bellingcat’s claim Russia dispatched hit squad as he holds end-of-year press event

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Vladimir Putin has denied Russia was behind the poisoning of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, calling a recent investigation by Bellingcat a “falsification”.

“Who needs to poison him,” he said during a nationally televised press conference, denying that Russia’s FSB spy agency was involved. “If they’d wanted to [poison him] then they probably would have finished the job.”