International

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been released from prison after serving a 15-day sentence for handing out leaflets to promote a protest rally.

The Russian opposition leader vowed not to "step back" as he left detention a week after the killing of another opposition figure, Boris Nemtsov.

The 1 March rally for which Navalny was leafleting instead became a mourning march for Mr Nemtsov.

Navalny says the legal cases against him are politically motivated.

Last year he and his brother Oleg were found guilty of stealing 30m roubles ($462,000;£300,000) from two companies.

Oleg was given a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence, while Navalny received a suspended sentence that prosecutors say they will appeal against.

'Didn't frighten anyone'

Speaking to reporters outside a Moscow detention centre, he pledged to continue his work despite the murder of Mr Nemtsov, who was shot dead outside the Kremlin walls in what his allies say was a political killing.

"We won't reduce our efforts; we won't step back," Navalny said. "That terrorist act didn't achieve its aim; it didn't frighten anyone."

Navalny was not allowed out of prison to attend the funeral of Mr Nemtsov on Tuesday.