Russian Police break up anti-Putin rally, detain leaders Russian police on Saturday detained dozens of people, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as they broke up an anti-Vladimir Putin rally that mustered hundreds in Moscow in defiance of an official ban. Scores of Muscovites, many holding white roses, defied the authorities by gathering at Lubyanka Square, the seat of the FSB security services, despite temperatures of minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit). Police pushed protesters from the square and shoved some into vans two hours into the protest, following warnings that the rally would be broken up.