President Putin's opponent detained by police?

The Russian opposition leader and rival of Mr Putin says he was detained by police as he prepared to attend a pre-election rally.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on September 29 that he was detained by police as he left his home in Moscow to attend a pre-election rally in a provincial capital.

A photo of Mr. Navalny taken in July 2017. Photo: Reuters.

Russia is scheduled to hold presidential elections in March 2018. President Vladimir Putin, whose term is about to end, is likely to run for re-election.

Russia's Central Election Commission said Mr Navalny was not eligible to run. However, he still hopes to confront Mr Putin.

Opposition leader Navalny said via social media that police said they wanted to speak to him about something but it was unclear what it was or whether he would be charged.

According to plan, Navalny will speak to the crowd in the city of Nizhny Novgorod later on September 29./.

According to VOV