More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny

The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in Russia's Arctic north was shocking, but hardly surprising.

For years, critics and opponents of Russian leader Vladimir Putin have fallen victim to shootings, poisoning with radioactive or nerve agents, or have plunged to their deaths from open windows.

More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most formidable opponent.

This is according to rights group OVD-Info, as Russians continue to gather and lay flowers.

It has been the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since September 2022, when more than 1,300 persons were arrested at demonstrations against a "partial mobilization" of reservists for Presidential Putin's military campaign in Ukraine.

Reports on freedom of assembly in Russia, said the largest numbers of arrests occurred in St Petersburg and Moscow, where Alexei Navalny's support had traditionally been strong.