Anti-Putin Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained during a raid in Moscow days after his ally was 'kidnapped' and sent to a remote corner of the Arctic.
The vocal Kremlin critic was seized during a raid on the Anti-Corruption Foundation's headquarters (FBK), his spokesman said on social media.
It comes after Ruslan Shaveddinov was snatched from his Moscow home on Monday and 'forcibly conscripted' into the armed forces, which saw him moved to Novaya Zemlya military base more than 1,200 miles north of Moscow.
Taking to social media, Navalny's spokesman Kira Yarmysh said: 'Alexei was forcibly detained and taken away. He did not resist. Lawyers are still at the FBK, and there's a search underway.'
It was not immediately clear why Navalny had been detained.
Navalny accused Putin's regime of 'unlawfully' depriving Shaveddinov of freedom in a blog post this week, and called the 23-year-old a 'political prisoner'.
He added that Shaveddinov had not been conscripted, which is a requirement for all men aged between 18 and 27 in Russia, due to a medical condition.
The long-term ally only resurfaced after borrowing a phone in order to make contact with friends and family.
Shaveddinov, who worked on the 2018 opposition presidential campaign, was also a project manager at the foundation.
Russian military spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if Shaveddinov avoided conscription he 'broke the relevant law of the Russian Federation', reports Reuters.
'If he dodged conscription and was conscripted in this way then everything was done strictly in accordance with the law.'
Appearing aloof from the 'extra-judicial' arrests, President Putin was pictured playing hockey in the Red Square on Christmas Day.
The 67-year-old was seen skating across the ice with the country's defence minister, Sergey Shoigu, the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, and other members of his government.
The Russian leader reportedly plays the game the week before Orthodox Christmas, which falls on January 7.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
