UK Foreign Secretary Under-Briefed on Situation With Rallies in Russia - Embassy

"It is worth noting that on the same day rallies were held in more than 100 Russian cities and towns. No troubles were recorded in the vast majority of those places, as local organizers and local authorities cooperated in good faith. It’s a pity that the Foreign Secretary has not been properly briefed on these aspects," the embassy's press officer said in a statement released on Monday.

The Russian Embassy stressed that such remarks mislead both the UK media and general public.

READ MORE: US Media in Russia Promote Opposition Exclusively — RT Editor-in-Chief

On Sunday, Johnson posted on his Twitter blog that he was concerned over the alleged "detention of large numbers of Russian citizens during demonstrations" on Sunday and called on the Russian government to respect its human rights commitments in the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

Rallies in support of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny were held across Russia on Sunday. Apart from authorized mass actions in 46 Russian cities, mass gatherings that were not authorized by local authorities took place in Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Moscow, Murmansk, Ufa, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Volgograd and Voronezh.

According to the Russian Interior Ministry's press service, a total of 266 activists were detained in 16 cities on Sunday. All of them have been released then, with administrative proceedings having been brought against 175 of them.