Germany calls for Navalny's immediate release

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Russia should "immediately" release Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Monday after a wave of Western condemnation of his detention at a Moscow airport.

Navalny "took the conscious decision to return to Russia because he sees it as his personal and political home", Mass said, adding it was "totally incomprehensible" that the Russian authorities arrested him on his arrival Sunday.

The 44-year-old was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport less than an hour after he flew in from Germany, where he had been recovering from the poisoning with a nerve agent he says was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

The United States, the European Union, several EU governments, Canada and a senior aide to US President-elect Joe Biden immediately called for his release, with some in the EU urging new sanctions against Moscow.

Rights groups joined the calls, with Amnesty International saying Navalny had become a prisoner of conscience and accusing Russian authorities of waging "a relentless campaign" to silence him.

Mass, noting that Russia is bound by its own constitution and international obligations, said "these principles must also be applied" and Navalny "should be released immediately".

Germany also wanted Russia to "investigate thoroughly the (poison) attack and bring the perpetrators to justice", the minister said.

Russia's FSIN prison service said Navalny was wanted for "multiple violations" of a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud, adding that "he will be held in custody" until a court ruling.

Navalny fell violently ill in August on a flight from Siberia and was later flown to Berlin in an induced coma. Western experts concluded he was poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve toxin Novichok.

The Kremlin denies any involvement and Russian investigators have said there are no grounds to launch a probe.