Russian police have detained opposition activists including protest leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow ahead of the tightly-policed Victory Day parade.
Police in riot gear detained several dozen including Navalny at an unsanctioned gathering in a small park on early Wednesday morning ahead of the parade on Red Square watched by newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny's lawyer Nikolai Polozov told Moscow Echo radio station that Navalny was being charged with disobeying police, facing a maximum punishment of 15 days in police cells.
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He said that 23 others were detained but were expected to be released shortly.
Navalny wrote on Twitter: "Of all my detentions this is the least like disobedience."
The charismatic lawyer and blogger who is one of the leaders of the protest movement, was earlier detained on Tuesday evening along with several other protest leaders after they held a series of protests at Putin's inauguration.
Radical left leader Sergei Udaltsov was also among those detained Tuesday and on Wednesday remained in a police station, having declared a hunger strike, Polozov wrote on Twitter.
The shaven-headed activist made a V-sign through cell bars for a photograph taken by his lawyer.
It was Udaltsov's third arrest in three days, RIA Novosti reported. He is being held by police until a court hearing on Thursday.
Opposition activists on Wednesday joined a sanctioned march by Communists in central Moscow, with some complaining on Twitter that police were not allowing those wearing the protest's symbol of white ribbons through metal detectors.
Police have said they have made almost 750 arrests since Sunday in Moscow as opposition protesters defied a heavy riot police lockdown in the city.
