EU Voices Concern Over Russian Opposition Arrests

The Kremlin today sent a signal of open defiance to the west as several opposition figures were arrested and western journalists detained as they attempted to fly to a summit between Russia and the EU.

Police held Garry Kasparov - the former world chess champion and a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin's regime - as he tried to board a flight from Moscow to the southern city of Samara.

Mr Kasparov was due to lead a demonstration by the Other Russia, a coalition of anti-Kremlin groups. They were protesting on the margins of the summit, hosted by Mr Putin and attended by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and other EU leaders.

Ms Merkel immediately voiced concerns that the Russian authorities were blatantly attempting to restrict freedom of speech.

"I am concerned about some people having problems in traveling here. I hope they will be given an opportunity to express their opinion," she told a news conference.

Her remarks came amid a fractious exchange at the news conference between Mr Putin and EU leaders over democratic freedoms and the government's treatment of critics - two of the many issues haunting EU-Russian relations.

The European commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, said it was "critically important to ensure full respect" for "principles and values" that should be shared by all European countries. "And Russia is a European country," he added.

Mr Putin sought to turn the tables, questioning European police practices. Amid European criticism of beatings by police at recent protests in Russia, he demanded that those responsible for the death of a man during riots over the removal of a monument to a Soviet soldier in Estonia, an EU member, be brought to justice.

The demonstration went ahead as around 300 people walked through the centre of Samara, chanting: "Russia without Putin" and "Down with KGB police". No main opposition leaders were in attendance, and there was a low police presence.

Police detained Mr Kasparov and Eduard Limonov, another opposition leader and a former head of the outlawed National Bolshevik party, for at least five hours earlier today.

They also refused to allow western journalists who had booked tickets through Mr Kasparov's United Civil Front movement - including the correspondents of the Daily Telegraph, the Wall Street Journal and a Dutch TV crew - to board the Aeroflot plane.

The Guardian, which had booked separately, was allowed to fly. The plane took off from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport 50 minutes late, without Mr Kasparov, and with 50 empty seats.

"Russia is not a democratic state," Mr Kasparov told the Guardian yesterday as a scrum of police officers surrounded him and confiscated his passport.

"It is an authoritarian regime. Putin is not a democrat. Europe's leaders need to address this issue. It is ridiculous when a Russian citizen with a good biography is not allowed to travel."

Mr Kasparov said the Kremlin's attempts to stop the demonstration - the latest in a series of opposition protests ahead of parliamentary elections in December and a presidential poll next March - breached Russia's constitution.

He added that Russia was obliged, under international law, to allow freedom of assembly. "We have no access to TV or parliament. The only way for the opposition to protest is through non-violent demonstration," he said.

After taking Mr Kasparov's passport, the police then disappeared and he and his supporters were left marooned next to an Irish pub.

Prior to today's rally, police also arrested several pro-democracy activists in Samara and raided the offices of the liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper. They detained the deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Moscow, confiscated opposition newspapers and arrested Mr Kasparov's deputy, activists said.

Mr Kasparov was also detained at an anti-Kremlin rally in Pushkin Square, Moscow, last month.