London: Vladimir Putin's government will face further demonstrations of public discontent after a wave of anti-corruption protests swept Russia at the weekend, the opposition leader arrested for leading the rallies has said.

Alexei Navalny, 40, was jailed for 15 days on Monday for disobeying a police officer at a protest against government corruption in central Moscow at the weekend.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 rubles ($460) for organising an unsanctioned demonstration.

"You can't detain tens of thousands of people," Alexei Navalny told reporters in the court room. "Yesterday we saw the authorities can only go so far."