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Moscow / Brussels (dpa) - After the arrest of the Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, who has returned to Moscow, the pressure on Russia is growing.

Politicians from the EU, the USA and Germany called on the Russian authorities to release the 44-year-old immediately.

The human rights organization Amnesty International classified the prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin as a political prisoner of Russia.

Navalny was arrested on Sunday evening immediately after landing in Moscow.

The Russian penal system justified the arrest with violations of probation conditions in a previous criminal case.

Therefore Navalny was put out to be searched.

Until the decision of the court he remains in custody, it said.

The trial is on January 29th.

The Kremlin critic was last in Germany for five months, where he was recovering from the attack with the neurotoxin Novichok in Russia.

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“The Russian authorities have to accept Alexei Navalny's rights and release him immediately,” said EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell on Twitter.

EU Council Chairman Charles Michel and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also criticized the imprisonment as unlawful.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also demanded the immediate release of Navalny.

The arrest was "completely unacceptable," said a statement by the three EU and NATO countries bordering on Russia.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to speak on the case at a press conference today.

Navalny described the proceedings against him as a political staging.

"The truth is on my side," he emphasized.

Navalny's team speaks of new attempts to silence the prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin.

They certified Putin into "panic" and "hysteria".

The prison system now wants to convert Nawalny's suspended sentence into a real prison sentence.

Russian lawyers also pointed out that Russia violated international law with the procedure.

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The Russian political scientist Tatiana Stanowaja said that the power apparatus in Moscow no longer acts according to political logic.

Such an approach would not only give Navalny hero status, but also increase the potential for protest.

But the secret services and security organs did not care.

You would see Navalny as a criminal.

Navalny had blamed Putin and the domestic secret service FSB for the attack on him.

Putin and the FSB reject that.

There was also criticism of the arrest of Nawalny from the USA.

"The United States strongly condemns Russia's decision to arrest Alexei Navalny," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"We note with great concern that his arrest is the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny and other opposition and independent voices critical of the Russian authorities."

The future US security advisor Jake Sullivan called for Nawalny's immediate release and accused the Kremlin of attacks on human rights.

In addition, those responsible for Navalny's poisoning in Siberia would have to be held accountable on August 20.

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Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) described Nawalnys as "unlawful".

«This man was wronged.

There has been an assassination attempt on him and he should be protected by the state and not arrested, ”said the finance minister in the“ Bild ”talk“ The right questions ”.

He is entitled to “move around Russia as a free man and apply for political mandates”.

This should not lead to “the state taking everything against him”.

Criticism also came from the Greens in the Bundestag.

The parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt wrote on Twitter: "The Kremlin clearly shows again how it deals with opposition members and intends to intimidate critics with all means."

Manuel Sarrazin, spokesman for Eastern European policy, declared: "The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin want to take Alexei Navalny out of circulation in this Duma election year at all costs."

The new parliament will be elected in September.

The deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Alexander Graf Lambsdorff criticized the "authoritarian course of the Russian president".

Putin is leading the country to a dead end.

"The federal government must insist that Nawalny's lawyers be explained the reasons for the arrest and that he himself is treated correctly."

Navalny's lawyer received Navalny at the airport, but was not allowed to accompany him.

Navalny was treated in Germany for the attack with the neurotoxin Novitschok, which is banned as a chemical weapon.

Russia denies that there was a crime and therefore refuses to investigate as long as there is evidence.

However, laboratories of the German armed forces as well as in France, Sweden and at the Organization for a Ban on Chemical Weapons (OPCW) proved the illegal warfare agent Novichok.

The EU has imposed sanctions on representatives of the Russian power apparatus for the internationally criticized crime.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210118-99-65473 / 2