The protest in the capital was originally authorised in a different location but Navalny unexpectedly cancelled it on Sunday, saying that the authorities were blocking efforts to hire a stage and sound equipment, calling on supporters to go to Tverskaya Street instead.
The 41-year-old protest leader has announced his intent to run for president against Vladimir Putin and has been campaigning relentlessly around Russian Federation while also mounting strong online presence via YouTube videos, attracting a younger generation. The United States condemned the arrests, a rare criticism of human rights violations and the Kremlin from Donald Trump's administration.
"Change is always good", Sukhoruchenkov said, adding that he and his friends were concerned about corruption - Navalny's rallying cry - that "manifests itself in all areas: from traffic police to university professors".
White House spokesman Sean Spicer called "on the government of Russian Federation to immediately release all peaceful protesters", detained in nationwide marches.
Navalny had called the anti-corruption demonstrations, and they drew crowds of several dozen to the 10,000 in St. Petersburg. The recent rallies were galvanised by a film released by Navalny in early March, which accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controlling vast personal wealth through a shadowy network of foundations.
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"We are against the corruption that is costing the future of our young people", said Moscow protester Maria Badyrova, a 33-year-old finance specialists who came to the rally with a Russian flag. "He has usurped all power", said protester Alexander Tyurin, 41.
Ivan Sukhoruchenkov, 19, attended anyway with four university classmates to protest what he described as "stagnation of the political system". "Pressure on young people has increased". His team was broadcasting from a studio set up in Moscow, though the electricity was periodically cut, forcing the presenter to speak in total darkness. Police in Moscow say about 5,000 took part in the demonstration there, Interfax news agency reports. The wave of protests called by Navalny coincides with a public holiday, Russia Day, when Putin hands out awards and holds a reception in the Kremlin.
More than 850 people were reported arrested in Moscow and about 500 in St. Petersburg, where the rallies were unsanctioned. "The current protesters. have no illusions about the possibility of dialogue with the authorities".
However, Moscow Prosecutor's Office warned against holding an "unauthorized action" on Tverskaya Street, according to TASS.
The protests, which involved cities from far-eastern Vladivostok to the Black Sea resort of Sochi and Norilsk beyond the Arctic Circle, follow a previous unsanctioned rally called by Navalny on March 26 that provoked a similar police reaction. "There is an unauthorised protest here!"
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