Russian Police Summon Anti-Putin Activist

Police officers detained Aleksei Navalny at a Moscow protest on March 5.

A popular anticorruption crusader and leader of Russia's protest movement against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he has been summoned for questioning by Moscow police.

Aleksei Navalny, a lawyer, became publicly known for his popular website exposing corruption schemes.

Navalny wrote on his blog on March 13 that police want him and his associates for questioning later this week regarding his anticorruption blog.

He is one of the figureheads of the protest movement against Putin and his victory in the March 4 presidential voting.

Navalny wrote that the stamp on the letter he received is from the police unit that investigates extremism.

Navalny spent 15 days in police custody for trying to lead an unsanctioned march in December in the first major protest against official results of the fraud-tainted parliamentary polls which handed a win to Putin's ruling United Russia party.

With AFP and RFE/RL Russian Service reports