Britain calls for immediate release of Kremlin critic Navalny

Britain demanded that Russia immediately releases Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on Tuesday after a court ruled he had violated the terms of his parole.

Britain demanded that Russia immediately releases Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on Tuesday after a court ruled he had violated the terms of his parole. Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, was arrested at the Russian border on Jan. 17 after returning from Germany where he had been recovering from being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent.

"The UK calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexey Navalny and all of the peaceful protesters and journalists arrested over the last two weeks," said foreign minister Dominic Raab. "Today's perverse ruling, targeting the victim of a poisoning rather than those responsible, shows Russia is failing to meet the most basic commitments expected of any responsible member of the international community."