Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday rejected Western calls to free jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as divorced from reality and told the West not to meddle in its sovereign affairs, the RIA news agency reported.
“Don't meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. And we recommend that everyone deals with their own problems,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the immediate release of Mr Navalny.
"The condemnation of Alexei Navalny is unacceptable. A political disagreement is never a crime. We call for his immediate release," Macron said in a statement on Twitter.
A Russian court on Tuesday jailed Navalny in a ruling which the opposition politician blamed on what he called President Vladimir Putin's hatred and fear of him.
