"
Over three thousand protesters have been arrested in Russia.
This wave of detentions worries us a lot, and we are concerned about the detention of Navalny. We are discussing it today with the EU foreign ministers."
Thus the High Representative,
Josep Borrell,
on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels.
St. Petersburg police yesterday arrested about 40 people on Nevsky Prospekt, near the Gostiny Dvor metro station. The agents, according to reports by Rain and Fontanka, blocked passers-by and loaded them onto a bus. Then they were taken to the 5th police department on the Obvodny canal embankment. At that point, administrative protocols were drawn up for taking part in an unauthorized rally in favor of Alexey Navalny - according to police at least 350 people attended. But Navalny headquarters did not announce (and did not conduct) any action in St. Petersburg on Sunday, January 24. The independent magazine Meduza reports it.