Galperin reportedly tried to evade arrest by jumping from a second story window before being detained by the police, journalist Arkady Babchenko wrote on Facebook.

Galperin - who currently works with activist group Za Smenu Vlasti, or "For the Change of Power" - also wrote on his social media page that he was waiting in the back of a police vehicle.

Galperin’s lawyer, Ksenia Kostromina, told the TASS news agency that her client’s apartment was being searched, and that she was waiting for him to be questioned. Opposition group Novaya Oppositsiya, of which Galperin was a former member, has already called for street demonstrations to protest the arrest.



The activist has not yet been formally charged, but has been investigated for repeatedly breaking protest laws, TASS reported. If found guilty, he could face up to five years imprisonment. The same charges were brought against opposition activist Ildar Dadin, who was jailed for two and a half years in December 2016. Dadin has since complained of being tortured by staff at the prison colony were he was held. He has now been transferred to second facility in Russia's remote Altai region.