LOC16:11
13:11 GMT
MOSCOW, Aug 13 (KUNA) -- The Russian presidency refuted on Tuesday the existence of any instability in the political situation in the country, saying recent protests in Moscow did not constitute an evidence of a crisis.
The wave of protests was triggered by the decision of the electoral commission to disqualify opposition candidates from running in the elections for the Moscow City Duma, said Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov in a statement.
Russian police arrested 1,300 protesters for partaking in an allegedly unauthorized demonstration in Moscow, however they allowed an assembly for activists that grouped 20,000 people.
The court had previously sentenced Key opposition figure Alexie Navalny to a month behind iron bars for calling for unauthorized demonstrations, and jailed Lyubov Sobol, lawyer of the Ant-Corruption Foundation for a similar sentence, as well as imposing fines on other detainees.
Russian authorities authorized protests on August 10 and 11; based on a request by the opposition liberal society.(end)
as.nhq