Russian police detain Navalny's wife and key ally

Video footage also showed police detaining one of Navalny's closes allies Lyubov Sobol at a rally in Moscow

Police have declared the rallies in Moscow and dozens of other cities illegal and have arrested hundreds of people.

Navalny called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend when he returned to Moscow for the first time since being poisoned in August with a military-grade nerve agent. Navalny had been treated in Germany.

Police put up barricades around Pushkinskaya Square as workers were engaged in retiling it, an apparent attempt to thwart a demonstration that was scheduled to start at 1100 GMT.