Arrested upon his return to Russia, Alexeï Navalny appeared on Monday before a judge to rule on his detention.

In a video posted on Twitter, the Russian opponent denounced a procedure of "the most total illegality".

The Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny denounced Monday "the most total illegality" of the procedure targeting him since his arrest the day before, while he appeared at the police station before a judge to rule on his detention.

"I do not understand what is happening. I have seen a lot of parodies of justice (...) but this is the most total illegality," said Alexeï Navalny in a video posted on Twitter by his spokesperson Kira Iarmych.

Supporters of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny said Monday that his arrest the day before on his arrival in Moscow after a long recovery in Germany was "illegal" and that the police were depriving him of access to his lawyers.

"He is illegally detained, we do not let his lawyers see him", denounced the Fund for the fight against corruption, the organization of the opponent.

Police "break the law by preventing the defense"

According to his spokesperson Kira Iarmych, two counsel for the opponent were allowed to enter the Khimki police station building, on the outskirts of Moscow, where he was being held.

"But we don't let them see Alexeï," she said on Twitter.

One of the lawyers, Olga Mikhaïlova, told the Ekho radio station in Moscow that the police "are breaking the law by preventing the defense" of Alexeï Navalny from meeting him.

The arrest on Sunday of the opponent, who accuses President Vladimir Putin of having ordered the poisoning from which he survived, was strongly denounced in Europe as in the United States, which demanded his immediate release.

The head of the Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, rejected these criticisms Monday, estimating that the Westerners seek by attacking Russia "to divert attention from the deep crisis which undermines the model of liberal development".