these accusations that alexi navalny are quite damaging that dmitry medvedev is worth a billion eurosthat is a massive amount of money in russia. that is struck a chord with some of the younger generation. sarah: a massive amount of money in any country. how is the kremlin was bonding -- responding? >> up to this point they have not tried to sugarcoat it. the kremlin's main spokesperson said we saw yesterday were some of the largest protest to sweep across russia in recent memory but he also seemed to draw the legitimacy of the protest into question. he raised the idea that many of these units and children were paid to attend the demonstration. he had heard rumors that they were offered money if they were arrested. when journalists pressed him on the issues he said he only had facts to back it up, he did not name any of his sources. we know he has returned to the russian capital but up to this point he has stayed mum when it comes to the issue of the protest and the accusation that alexi navalny has raised against him. sarah: thank you very much. turkish citizens are in germany and ha

is troubled to hear of the arrest of alexi navalny. they want all peaceful protesters to be released. >> it did take the state department quite a bit to bring out that statement but finally they did. >>> right, the white house may be looking to hit the reset button after the stinging failure of the gop health care bill. >> the political blame game is heating up. republicans try to move forward with president trump pointing the finger at conservatives who refuse to get on board. abc's elizabeth hur joins us now. elizabeth, a lot of monday morning quarterbacking taking place. >> reporter: certainly sounds lying it, kendis. for his part president trump made it clear this is not the outcome he wanted but is moving on but the white house maintains revising obamacare is still a priority. the gop's health care bill, dead on arrival delivered an embarrassing defeat for president trump who is now blasting conservative republicans tweeting democrats are smiling. the head of the heritage foundation isn't backing down insisting the gop plan would

and so this is what the opposition figure alexi navalny because one is concerned about the level of officialption here, and thousands have come out to the streets across the country, and there were lots of arrests, 500 arrests in fact in moscow alone. that's prompted criticism from the united states, the state department spokesman saying the u.s. strongly condemns the detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters. detaining measeful protesters, human rights observers and journalists is an affront to core values. so, yes, a significant protest, and perhaps the biggest protest that russia has seen since 2011, 2012 when vladimir putin came back into office as the russian president. >> of course, matthew, these protests come after a former russian lawmaker and vocal putin critic was shot in ukraine on thursday, he was shot dead, were protesters concerned at all for their safety today? >> reporter: well, look, i think that the opposition figures in this country, whether it's that individual, that former parliamentarian you're talking about who was killed in the ukrainian capital a few days back, o

earlier i managed to ask alexi navalny outside the courtroom how significant he thought yesterday's protestt was alexei navalny who had called russians onto the street at the weekend to take part in anti—government protests. and people came across the country in dozens of towns and cities their thousands. the biggest protest was in moscow. i was on pushkin square where there were thousands of people. that protest was broken up by russian riot police. these protests have cemented alexei navalny‘s position as unofficial leader of the russian opposition. meanwhile the kremlin today said it respected people's right to come out and voice their opinion but that repeated its belief that some of those protests at the weekend had been unsanctioned and therefore illegal. 0lga ivshina is following the story in moscow. and alexei navalny said that, and also the range of the cities that participated. this was more than 80 cities all over russia. in most of the city is the rallies were not allowed by the government, which means that people didn't take those risks to come to streets, which is very interes

president putin's most prominent critics, anti-corruption campaigner alexi navalni. the kremlin accusing protestors of provoking violence. back to you. >>> 6:16 right now. the wife of the man accused of kidnapping a former student is pleading with her husband. on sunday jill cummings pleaded with her husband ted for a second time to release elizabeth thomas and turn himself in. the 15-year-old has been missing for nearly two weeks now. despite hundreds of tips there is no sign of her. stay tuned for the "today" show. >>> a man who was left dangling on the side of a resort in key biscayne last week is thanking his rescuers. he was doing exterior work between the sixth and eighth floors. and dropped. he was reunited with his rescue team. >> any time we can have a positive effect on somebody's life and see the fruits of our labor, it's a pretty good feeling. >> it was quick thinking and team work that got the whole job done. he was working at his son's. he was there for 45 minutes. >>> are you ready? this is ""the voice." >> on nbc's "the voice." >> d.c. native is among

that's him in the alexi navalny, he runs something called the anti-corruption project and today they posted this video, almost an hour long, really well done. it's in russian, obviously, but you can see at the bottom it has english subtitles. i have to admit i found it -- i spent way too much of my office hours today watching the entire thing, i found it completely riveting. if you want a real world manifestation of bravery in politics, this is it. this is worth watching if you want to know what that looks like. it's interesting. it's an article of faith among anybody who's connected in geo politics. you talk to long-time journalists, plaurly people who worked abroad, anybody who worked in big time national security or big time international business or diplomacy, even big time military folks, anybody who's had a rear, ben out there in the world, somebody worldly and connected and knows what's what. if you know anybody like that ask them and do it like -- don't think about it, quick, pop quiz, just ask them, who do you think is the richest man in the world? and if you ask somebody wh

alexi navalny has long been the most prominent face of russian opposition to president vladimir putinominantly young followers in sharp, punchy language, mocking the establishment loyal to president putin. and it was last year he announced his intention to run for russian president in 2018, saying it was important to have a "clash of ideas" and a real choice. let‘s go live to moscow, and our correspondent, sarah rainsford. so sarah how influential is he? well he‘s probably the only person in opposition who could have got so many people out onto the streets across russia. at this point, in russian history. he is influential. he is well—known, but he is limited as well in his reach because of course he is very rarely shown on state television, like president putin. and here. he managed to bring out tens of thousands of people onto the streets despite the fact that the streets despite the fact that the authorities had been warning protesters or potential protesters for some time that these were unsanctioned protests, and that they would be punished if they came out onto the streets to fi