Finland FM to discuss Navalny, protests with Lavrov

Finland's foreign minister says he will discuss the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during talks in Moscow.

Pekka Haavisto met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in St Petersburg on Monday.

Haavisto said he would also raise Russia's crackdown on pro-Navalny protests.

Navalny was arrested upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.

The Russian government denies involvement and has said it has no evidence that Navalny was poisoned.

Weekend protests in scores of cities last month over Navalny’s detention represented the largest outpouring of popular discontent in years and appeared to have rattled the Kremlin.

Police reportedly arrested about 10,000 people, and many demonstrators were beaten, while state media sought to downplay the scale of the protests.