Around 1,000 people marched through central Moscow on Sunday to protest against the government’s harsh legislative controls on the internet.
Russia in recent years has moved to impose restrictions on internet use, blacklisting web pages for extremist content and prosecuted a growing number of individuals for posting online.
Protesters on Sunday highlighted the case of videoblogger Ruslan Sokolovsky who filmed himself hunting Pokemons in a church and has been placed on a list of “terrorists” and extremists and had his bank accounts blocked.
The internet is one of the country’s few forums for political debate and Kremlin critic Navalny has won a youth following with live video blogs and YouTube videos.
Putin on Friday during a live television show with children admitted that he almost never uses the internet and does not have time for social media such as Instagram.