Putin critic Navalny released from jail

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been released from a Moscow prison, his spokeswoman says, after completing a 25-day sentence for repeatedly violating the law on organising public meetings.

Navalny, who has organised two big anti-government street protests in recent months, says he wants to run for the presidency in March next year, but the Central Election Commission has said he is ineligible because of an embezzlement conviction that Navalny says was politically motivated.

"Today at 0900 Alexei Navalny was released from a detention centre," Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, wrote on social media on Friday.

The media and his detractors had expected him to be freed later and were waiting for him at a different location. Navalny has twice had a green antiseptic thrown in his face, causing him partial sight loss, something he is keen to avoid again.

Navalny's supporters are planning a series of campaign events for Saturday, including the distribution of the first edition of his pre-election newspaper.

Investigators raided Navalny's Moscow election headquarters on Thursday and police entered a warehouse, where activists said they had confiscated pre-election pamphlets.

Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally, said police raids on other election offices in other cities were taking place on Friday.