Reuters, Moscow :
Russian state prosecutors said they would back an effort to jail opposition politician Alexei Navalny for up to three and a half years at a court hearing on Tuesday, as the Kremlin said it would not heed U.S. complaints about his case.
Riot police used forced to break up protests across Russia on Sunday calling for Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, to be freed. More than 5,300 people were detained in a massive show of force.
That prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn what he said was the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists, and to call for Navalny’s release.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow would ignore Blinken’s comments about what he said were illegal protests inside Russia and warned against Washington imposing any new sanctions.
“…We are not prepared to accept or heed American statements about this,” said Peskov.
