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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from police custody without charge.
He was arrested in Moscow on Sunday as protest demonstrations against Vladimir Putin called by him took place across the country.
Mr Navalny's lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told Reuters
If charged with violating laws on holding demonstrations, Mr Navalny could face up to 30 days in jail.
Police wrestled the opposition leader into a patrol wagon moments after he appeared at a rally to urge voters to boycott what he claimed would be a rigged presidential election in March.
Show all 20 1 /20Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency.
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Vladimir Putin's Photo ops – Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds.
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Mr Navalny had only walked a short distance when he was surrounded by helmet-clad police officers.
They wrestled him to the ground on the pavement and then dragged him feet first into the patrol wagon, video footage has showed.
Before his release, he called upon his supporters to continue the demonstrations.
He said on Twitter: "They have detained me. This doesn't mean anything ... you didn't come out for me, but for your future."
Protests against Mr Putin were reported up and down the country, ranging from a dozen to several hundred people.
Mr Navalny has been barred from running in the upcoming presidential election on 18 March, which polls show Mr Putin is on track to easily win.
Though Mr Navalny says he knows Mr Putin will be re-elected, his boycott campaign is aimed at lowering voter turnout to try to take the shine off a Putin win.
AP and Reuters.
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