Supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gathered in Moscow on Saturday, calling for President Vladimir Putin to quit and let Navalny run in an election.

Under gray skies and intermittent rain, around a thousand Navalny supporters gathered in central Moscow’s Pushkin Square and chanted “Russia will be free” and “Russia without Putin”.

Navalny, who is serving a 20-day jail term for violating rules on public meetings, called the rally in Moscow and other cities across Russia to coincide with Putin’s 65th birthday.

Putin, who has dominated Russia’s political landscape for almost 18 years, is widely expected to run for what would be his fourth term in March.

One of the protesters held a homemade poster of Putin sitting on a mountain of banknotes wearing a crown with the legend: “Happy Birthday you little thief!”

Medvedev called the allegations against him politically-motivated nonsense.

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