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Kremlin has no data on foreign influence on Russian rallies

On March 26, unauthorized rallies were held in a number of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg

ARKHANGELSK, March 30. /TASS/. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday he doesn’t have any data that there had been foreign influence on the protests in Moscow and some other Russian cities on March 26.

"I don’t have any information of this kind," Peskov said. "I have never heard any data that would confirm this version."

"In Russia, we call this provocation," Peskov said, speaking about the rally in Moscow. "Inviting people to take part in an event that had not been authorized and was beforehand illegal and on the contrary, depicting this event as authorized and legal is provocation," he said.

Peskov declined to answer a question if Russian President Vladimir Putin changed his relation to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev after the rallies, which criticized the head of government. "I consider that this is an incorrect question," he said.

On March 26, unauthorized rallies were held in a number of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, with the goal of fighting corruption. According to authorities, more than 600 people, in addition to opposition figure Alexey Navalny, were detained during an unauthorized rally by the opposition in downtown Moscow. The organizers had earlier refused to hold the rally at another site proposed by the authorities.