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Dozens of Nashi Protesters Detained

Police detained dozens of Nashi activists at an unauthorized rally outside the European Commission's offices in Moscow on Wednesday, in a rare instance of the pro-Kremlin youth group running afoul of the law.

Some 700 activists gathered at the delegation's office at 14/1 Kadashevskaya Naberezhnaya in central Moscow to protest the imprisonment of a fellow activist in Lithuania, which is an EU member.

The rally was not sanctioned, and police dispersed it, rounding up 50 activists and new Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov, Nashi spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik said, Interfax reported.

Police said the detainees were taken in for questioning on possible charges of illegally gathering for a protest.

The rally was meant to protest the jailing of Konstantin Goloskokov, who was sentenced to two months in prison on charges of illegally crossing the border earlier this month. Goloskokov was traveling to Estonia to participate in a Nashi picket at the former site of a Soviet memorial.

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