Dozens of people have been detained as police try to stop nationwide protests in Russia in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Police are also breaking up groups of his supporters gathered in the capital Moscow, ahead of a protest there.
Thousands of people have already taken part in rallies in Russia’s Far East, where there were also arrests.
Mr Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most high-profile critic, called for protests after his arrest last weekend.
He was detained last Sunday after he flew back to Moscow from Berlin, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal nerve agent attack in Russia last August.
On his return, he was immediately taken into custody and found guilty of violating parole conditions. He says it is a trumped-up case designed to silence him, and called on his supportersto protest.
Several of Mr Navalny’s close aides, including a spokeswoman, have also been detained in the run up to Saturday’s protests.
Prior to the protests, Russian authorities had promised a tough crackdown, with police saying any unauthorised demonstrations and provocations will be “immediately suppressed”.
Russia’s Far East saw some of the first protests on Saturday, but reports conflict over how many of Mr Navalny’s supporters turned up.
One independent news source, Sota, said at least 3,000 people had joined a demonstration in the city of Vladivostok but local authorities there put the figure at 500.
Footage showed riot police in Vladivostok running into a crowd, and beating some of the protesters with batons
Meanwhile protesters braved temperatures of -50C (-58F) in the Siberian city of Yakutsk.
OVD Info, an independent NGO that monitors rallies, said that more than 200 people had been detained so far in 30 cities across the country.
