MOSCOW -- In a note from jail, opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged Russians on Thursday to overcome their fear and "free" the country from a "bunch of thieves," while the Kremlin cast the arrests of thousands of protesters as a due response to the unsanctioned rallies.
Navalny, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison earlier this week, said in a statement posted on his Instagram account that "iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man. Because I feel confident I'm right. Thanks to your support. Thanks to my family's support."
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption campaigner who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's most determined political foe, was arrested Jan. 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement and claim there is no proof that he was poisoned despite tests by several European labs.
A Moscow court Tuesday sent Navalny to prison, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled unlawful.
He said his imprisonment was "Putin's personal revenge" for surviving and exposing the assassination plot.
Protests against Navalny's arrest and jailing have spread across Russia's 11 time zones over the past two weekends, drawing tens of thousands in the largest show of discontent with Putin's rule in years.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a phone call Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who raised the issue of Navalny, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. It said Lavrov emphasized the need to respect Russian law.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia won't listen to Western criticism of Navalny's sentencing and the police action against protesters. "We aren't going to take into account such statements regarding the enforcement of our laws on those who violate them and Russian court verdicts," Peskov said.
Information for this article was contributed by Kostya Manenkov of The Associated Press.
![FILE - In this handout photo taken from a footage provided by Moscow City Court on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shows a heard symbol standing in the cage during a hearing to a motion from the Russian prison service to convert the suspended sentence of Navalny from the 2014 criminal conviction into a real prison term in the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia. A prison sentence for Navalny and a sweeping crackdown on protesters demanding his release reflect the Kremlin’s steely determination to fend off threats to its political monopoly at any cost. (Moscow City Court via AP, File)]()
FILE - In this handout photo taken from a footage provided by Moscow City Court on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shows a heard symbol standing in the cage during a hearing to a motion from the Russian prison service to convert the suspended sentence of Navalny from the 2014 criminal conviction into a real prison term in the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia. A prison sentence for Navalny and a sweeping crackdown on protesters demanding his release reflect the Kremlin’s steely determination to fend off threats to its political monopoly at any cost. (Moscow City Court via AP, File)
![Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Following Navalny's arrest, authorities also have moved swiftly to silence and isolate his allies. On Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, Sobol was formally charged with the incitement of violation of sanitary regulations by organizing protests. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)]()
Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Following Navalny's arrest, authorities also have moved swiftly to silence and isolate his allies. On Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, Sobol was formally charged with the incitement of violation of sanitary regulations by organizing protests. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
![Relatives and friends of jailed protesters wait to transfer food and warm clothes at the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where she has spent 3 days outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)]()
Relatives and friends of jailed protesters wait to transfer food and warm clothes at the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where she has spent 3 days outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
![This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)]()
This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)
![Almir Shamasov, a 30 year-old architect, walks out of the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where he spent 10 days for talking part in a demonstration against the jailing of Russian Opposition leader Alexei Nalvalny, outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Shamasov said he spent 20 hours in a police van suffering from the effects of engine fumes or shivering from the cold when it was cut off. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)]()
Almir Shamasov, a 30 year-old architect, walks out of the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where he spent 10 days for talking part in a demonstration against the jailing of Russian Opposition leader Alexei Nalvalny, outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Shamasov said he spent 20 hours in a police van suffering from the effects of engine fumes or shivering from the cold when it was cut off. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
![This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)]()
This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)
![FILE In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaks to journalists prior to a news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin via video call in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin said Thursday that thousands of arrests at protests against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were a necessary response to the unsanctioned rallies and strongly rebuffed Western criticism. Dmitry Peskov, said that they have to bear responsibility for joining the unauthorized protests. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)]()
FILE In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaks to journalists prior to a news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin via video call in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin said Thursday that thousands of arrests at protests against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were a necessary response to the unsanctioned rallies and strongly rebuffed Western criticism. Dmitry Peskov, said that they have to bear responsibility for joining the unauthorized protests. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
![This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)]()
This photo released by Philipp Kyznetsov from his instagram account philipp_kuznetsov, shows a group of detained people inside the police bus in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. Russian protesters spent hours packed inside the vehicles and lodged in corridors of police precincts as authorities struggle to allocate thousands of people arrested during the rallies sparked by arrest of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny. (Philipp Kyznetsov via AP)
![Eva Sokolova, left, walks out of the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where she has spent 3 days outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Eva Sokolova slept two nights on the floor of police precinct before the court jailed her for three days. "There were four of us in the holding cell who slept on the floor on the mattress with single-use sheets, without pillows and blankets," she said leaving the custody. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)]()
Eva Sokolova, left, walks out of the deportation centre Sakharovo, 70km (43,7 miles) south-west of Moscow which was urgently transformed into a detention center in the absence of prison space where she has spent 3 days outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Eva Sokolova slept two nights on the floor of police precinct before the court jailed her for three days. "There were four of us in the holding cell who slept on the floor on the mattress with single-use sheets, without pillows and blankets," she said leaving the custody. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
