MOSCOW — Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov has been arrested in Moscow by plainclothes police on his way to a protest calling on Russians to boycott today’s State Duma elections.
A spokesperson for Udaltsov, leader of the unregistered Left Front party, says he was detained before he arrived at the rally beneath the walls of the Kremlin.
More than a dozen other activists from the Left Front movement also were arrested by police on Red Square after unraveling banners decrying today’s elections as “illegitimate” because some parties were not registered.
The spokesperson, Udaltsova’s wife, Anastasiya Udaltsova, said men in plainclothes pushed her husband into a car without number plates and drove off to an unknown location.
Udaltsova was among those later detained on Red Square.
Police have confirmed Udaltsov’s arrest.
Udaltsov on December 3 said police were trying to arrest activists on trumped-up charges ahead of today’s vote.
with agency reports