Supporters of detained Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny will resume widespread protests Tuesday when a court in Moscow is due to consider fraud charges against Navalny and decide if he should be jailed.
Over the past weekend Russia detained record numbers of demonstrators Sunday as more protests broke out demanding Navalny's release.
Police detained more than 5,000 people as protests across the country entered a second week. One of those detained earlier was Navalny's wife Yulia. She was later released.
In Moscow more than 1,600 were detained and some were beaten.
Thousands of protesters defied police warnings and rallied from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg in a second weekend of widespread discontent over the arrest of President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic.
The show of anger came despite efforts by police to stem the protests after tens of thousands took to the streets across Russia in the biggest, most widespread show of dissent in years.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Secretary Anthony Blinken denounced the "persistent use of harsh tactics" by Russia. "We renew our call for Russia to release those detained for exercising their human rights, including Aleksey Navalny," Blinken said in a Twitter comment quoted by CNBC.
"We condemn the Russian authorities' indiscriminate and arbitrary arrest of peaceful protesters and journalists simply for expressing their dissent," British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said in a report in The Guardian.
In other development, Navalny, climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and the World Health Organization are among those nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
Navalny was nominated for his "efforts for a peaceful democratization of Russia."
