MOSCOW —
The Kremlin on Friday said calls from prominent Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny to hold a protest rally in the center of Moscow on Sunday were an
illegal provocation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters that official permission had not been granted for the rally, which organizers say is to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Peskov also said Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting in the Kremlin with French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, did not discuss financial aid for her campaign.