<p class="title">The Kremlin said on Monday it did not regard Opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a political threat ahead of a March presidential election and said protests he had organised on Sunday were not that big.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that it was unlikely that anyone could compete with President Vladimir Putin ahead of a March 18 election which polls show he should comfortably win.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Navalny has been barred from running against Putin over what Navalny says is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Russian police wrestled Navalny into a patrol wagon on Sunday moments after he appeared at a rally to urge voters to boycott what he said would be a rigged election.</p>
<p class="title">The Kremlin said on Monday it did not regard Opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a political threat ahead of a March presidential election and said protests he had organised on Sunday were not that big.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that it was unlikely that anyone could compete with President Vladimir Putin ahead of a March 18 election which polls show he should comfortably win.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Navalny has been barred from running against Putin over what Navalny says is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Russian police wrestled Navalny into a patrol wagon on Sunday moments after he appeared at a rally to urge voters to boycott what he said would be a rigged election.</p>