The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed demands from Western nations to release Russian politician Alexei Navalny, AFP reported. 

They also said his calls for mass protests over his arrest were ‘troubling’.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic, is scheduled to appear in court on defamation charges on Wednesday. His allies in Russia are currently calling for protests in Moscow this weekend.

Navalny, 44, was detained on Sunday when he returned to Moscow from Germany, for the first time since he recovered from a near-fatal poisoning with the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent in August.

On Tuesday, Navalny published a report of a corruption investigation into a lavish, $1.35 billion property on Russia’s Black Sea coast, allegedly owned by Putin.

In the two-hour long video accompanying the report on his blog, Navalny described the widespread estate as a ‘state within Russia’ of which Putin is “tsar”.

Also read: Alexei Navalny set to appear before court on charges of defaming WW2 veteran

Russia’s prison service officially stated that it had detained Navalny for ‘violating the terms’ of a suspended 2014 sentence that he was given on fraud charges.

A court on Monday ordered his imprisonment for 30 days, after which associates called on Russians to storm the streets in central Moscow and march towards the Kremlin.

Demonstrations in Moscow have been banned due to COVID-19 restrictions, but Navalny’s associate Leonid Volkov said on Tuesday the organisers would not seek formal permission for the rally.

According to AFP, Volkov believes that the possibility that the unsanctioned rally could result in detentions for Navalny’s supporters will not deter them.

“Putin poisoned Navalny and Navalny is now behind bars,” he reportedly said.

Navalny has Putin of ordering his poisoning, a claim that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.

The Kremlin also admitted that the calls for protest were ‘troubling’ and asserted that it would not pay heed to Western demands to free Navalny.

“This is absolutely a domestic affair and we will not allow anyone to interfere in it,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, as per AFP reports.

Navalny’s arrest has sparked a wave of condemnation from Western countries, leaders of which have demanded his immediate release.