Russian police arrested more than 1,600 supporters of the opposition Alexei Navalny during protests in dozens of cities, according to the group "OVD-Info" to monitor the protests, while the State Department objected to the US embassy publishing maps of protesters' movements in various cities.

The demonstrators chanted slogans condemning President Vladimir Putin, and demanding the release of Navalny, who has been in custody since his return to his country.

Police also arrested Navalny's wife at a demonstration in Moscow, she said on her Instagram account from inside a police vehicle.

In Moscow, at least 10,000 people demonstrated in Pushkin Square, and in the surrounding streets, according to AFP correspondents, while the police estimated the crowds at 4,000.

The protests in Moscow turned into violence between police using batons and demonstrators throwing snowballs.

The Russian authorities said the protests were illegal because they did not obtain the necessary licenses.

And Al-Jazeera correspondent in Moscow, Zaur Chog, reported that the demonstrations in Pushkin Square were dispersed, and a few dozen remained in the vicinity of the square, and the police also began to withdraw.

The correspondent said that the opposition announced on social media that they would continue the demonstrations next week, and that they would not be less momentous than what they witnessed today.

He explained that today's demonstrations gave new impetus to the Russian opposition, whose performance has deteriorated significantly in recent years, and that many of the demonstrators are from the younger generation, adding that the question now remains about the reaction of the Kremlin, which was surprised by the size of the demonstrations, and whether it would make concessions and accommodate this protest movement Or will continue to suppress it.

This protest movement comes months before the upcoming legislative elections in the fall, against the backdrop of the declining popularity of the ruling party, "United Russia."

These are the largest demonstrations since those organized by Navalny during the summer of 2019 in Moscow, on the sidelines of local elections.

"People are tired of Putin, he has been president all my life. It is time to make room for others," said 20-year-old protester Alexei Skvortsov, "I don't want to live in a dictatorship."

Al-Jazeera correspondent also reported that dozens of demonstrators were arrested in the cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, in the far east of Russia, as thousands of demonstrators chanted the slogan "Putin is a thief", referring to an investigative film on corruption in the hierarchy of power published by the Russian opposition on YouTube, which received a wide following of 60 million views.

And in some cities in eastern Russia, the demonstrators braved the extreme cold, as the temperature reached 50 below zero.

Many of the protesters against Putin are young people (Reuters)

The arrests were particularly violent in Vladivostok, the Russian port on the Pacific Ocean, where riot police chased protesters and beat them with sticks.

This week, Russian police arrested first-line allies of Navalny, including two who were sentenced Friday to short prison terms.

In other regions, a number of his movement coordinators were arrested after they called for the Saturday demonstration.

Navalny, 44, is detained until at least February 15, and is being targeted by a number of legal procedures. He was arrested upon his return last Sunday from Germany, where he spent 5 months in recovery.

At the end of August, the Russian dissident was seriously ill in Siberia, and was transferred to the hospital in an emergency situation in Berlin, after he was - according to him - poisoned with a nerve gas by Russian intelligence.

Foreign inquiries

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, from the US embassy in Moscow, explained why she published maps of protesters ’movements in Russian cities on the eve of the demonstrations.

In press statements, Zakharova wondered whether this step was an instruction provided to protesters by the embassy, ​​data that even the organizers of the protests did not disclose, according to her saying.

She said that if the Russian embassy in Washington, for example, had published maps of the American protesters ’movements towards the Capitol Building, this would have caused anti-Russian hysteria.