Russia Jails Prominent Dissident After Major Protests

NPR

Published March 27, 2017 at 1:20 PM EDT

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Riot police officers detain a protester during an unauthorized anti-corruption rally in central Moscow on March 26, 2017.
Thousands of Russians demonstrated across the country on March 26 to protest at corruption, defying bans on rallies which were called by prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny -- who was arrested along with scores of others. (Alexander Utkin/AFP/Getty Images) — Riot police officers detain a protester during an unauthorized anti-corruption rally in central Moscow on March 26, 2017. Thousands of Russians demonstrated across the country on March 26 to protest at corruption, defying bans on rallies which were called by prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny -- who was arrested along with scores of others. (Alexander Utkin/AFP/Getty Images)

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leading critics will serve 15 days in jail after being arrested during yesterday’s protests in Moscow. Alexei Navalny, who says he will run for president, was one of the hundreds of people arrested in the biggest demonstrations in Russia in years.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with David Filipov (@davidfilipov), the Washington Post’s Moscow bureau chief, about the demonstrations.