You're reading: Russian opposition party leader detained at protest

MOSCOW, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Russian police detained the leader of the Yabloko liberal opposition party for defying their orders on Saturday at a peaceful protest by up to 200 people to demand fair elections, the party said.

Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin was detained for moving a crowd control barrier in defiance of police orders at the protest in Moscow, the party said in a statement. Another party member was detained on unknown charges, it said.

Police made no immediate statement and were not available for comment.

Yabloko founder Grigory Yavlinsky hopes to challenge Putin and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in March presidential elections, but is not expected to make a big impact.

The protesters demanded the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, a close ally of Putin, after international monitors said the Dec. 4 parliamentary election was marred by violations.

Yabloko said Mitrokhin had asked police to remove a metal barrier so that protesters could gather around the monument to poet Alexander Griboyedov in central Moscow. When police refused, he moved it himself.

"I don’t consider myself guilty," Yabloko cited Mitrokhin as saying. "It was a provocation by the police following a political order."