The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a Russian court order placing opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest in 2014 was unlawful and politically driven.

Navalny, a leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has faced repeated arrests, hailed Tuesday's ruling as a victory and congratulated his supporters.

The court in Strasbourg ruled Tuesday that the house-arrest order had not been justified and noted that it was apparent that Navalny had been treated in that way in order to curtail his public activities.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that the Kremlin disagrees with the ruling, adding that it will be up to the Russian Justice Ministry to take the necessary action. Russia could appeal the verdict.