Russian police searched the Moscow apartment of opposition figure Ilya Yashin’s parents on Thursday and briefly detained them for questioning, the exiled activist said on social media.

A Russian dissident freed in the historic prisoner exchange earlier this month wishes he could return to Moscow to continue protesting against President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.

Yashin was one of several Russian political prisoners freed in a historic swap with the West last summer. He had been serving an eight-year sentence for denouncing the Kremlin's Ukraine invasion.

Yashin was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in December 2022 for "spreading false information" about the military. His appeal was rejected in April of the following year.

The rally is the first organised by three of the most high-profile opposition figures -- Yulia Navalnaya, Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza -- and comes at a critical time for the movement.

Hundreds of people marched through central Berlin on Saturday alongside Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, to demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a video message, Navalnaya, Yashin and Kara-Murza asked viewers to: "Look towards a future that each of us dreams of. A future in which Russia is a country living in peace with its neighbors. A ...

The Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper has again been honoured with the Yashin Trophy, the award presented to the best goalkeeper of the year, which is selected by former Ballon d'Or winners.