May 18, 2007, 5:59 GMT
Moscow - Russian police arrested prominent government critics Friday ahead of an EU-Russia summit that is to start later in the day.
Opposition politician and former chess champion Garry Kasparov; Eduard Limonov, the founder of the banned National Bolshevik Party; and human-rights advocate Lev Ponomaryov were arrested at the Moscow airport as they were preparing to leave for the Volga city of Samara, where the summit is to be held, Echo Moskvy radio reported.
Journalists accompanying the three men were also arrested, it said.
The Other Russia opposition alliance has called a protest Friday afternoon in the centre of Samara as the summit is being held.
Although Russian officials approved the march amid pressure from the European Union, numerous organizers of the demonstration as well as critics of President Vladimir Putin have been arrested in the days leading up to the summit.
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