Navalny released ahead of Putin's swearing-in

Russian opposition leader and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny was on Sunday released after he was detained during a rally against the latter a day ago.

Navalny was released ahead of Putin's swearing-in as the president for the fourth time, scheduled to be held on Monday.

Following his release on Sunday, Navalny wrote on Twitter, "They wrote up two protocols on me: organizing a rally and disobeying police, but at half past midnight they chose to release me pending trial."

During Saturday's protest, police in riot gear waded into the crowd on Moscow's Pushkin Square and were seen grabbing some demonstrators and leading them away, Euronews reported.

A video showed police carrying a struggling Navalny out of the square, holding him by the legs and arms, RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported.

Crowds shouted slogans like "Down with the Tsar!" and "Russia without Putin".

On the whole, 1,029 people were arrested in 19 different cities across the country, the group reported. It said 475 of the detentions had taken place in Moscow alone.

Navalny, an anti-corruption lawyer and opposition activist, is widely considered to be the only real challenger to Putin's rule but was barred from running in the Russian presidential election in March.