Sergei Furgal won over President Putin's party in the last election. He has now been arrested and taken to a prison in Moscow. In Khabarovsk, the governor is popular and thousands of people gather to demonstrate and show their dissatisfaction with Moscow. Most people there believe that the arrest is about political revenge.

Those who arrested him say he was involved in a murder that took place in 2004.

- The Russian authorities are wrong on this issue, says one of the protesters.

See correspondent Bert Sundström report from the demonstrations in the clip above.