Video showed the 44 year old talking with officers at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, then kissing his wife, Yulia, before he was led away.

A couple was returning from a five month stay in Germany, where Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken domestic critics, had been recovering after he had been poisoned with what German test showed was the deadly Na'vi chalk nerve agent.

Navalny says Putin was behind his poisoning, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Aziz he boarded the plane in Berlin.

He thanked Germany and said he wasn't afraid of being arrested.

Hey announced his decision to return from Germany on Wednesday.

A day later, Moscow's prison service said he would do everything to arrest him once he returned, accusing him of flouting the terms of a suspended prison sentence for embezzlement.

A 2014 case he says, was trumped up.

Navalny's playing from Berlin was diverted to a different Moscow airport at the last minute in an apparent effort by authorities to keep journalists and supporters from greeting him.

A statement on Sunday from the Moscow Prison service said Navalny would remain in custody until a court hearing later this month.

His arrest drew immediate condemnation abroad.

U.

S President elect Joe Biden's incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Twitter quote, Mr Navalny should be immediately released and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable.