An ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday announced plans to stage some kind of new anti-Kremlin protest action this Sunday, saying the format for the event would be different from recent rallies, the MBKh media outlet reported.

Leonid Volkov said further details would be announced later on Tuesday or on Wednesday, but said the plan would seek to distance protesters from the police in an unspecified way.

Thousands of people have been detained by police at nationwide rallies in recent weeks for protesting against the jailing of Navalny.