Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has returned to Moscow after his surprise release from jail and says he will push forward in his campaign to become mayor of the capital.

Navalny was sentenced to five years in prison on an embezzlement conviction on Thursday in the city of Kirov, but prosecutors unexpectedly asked for his release the next morning.

They said that keeping him behind bars during the appeals process of his conviction would deprive him of his right to run for office.

A day before the conviction, Navalny was registered as a candidate for the September 8 mayoral election.

Hundreds of police blocked Navalny supporters from the platform of the Moscow railway station where his overnight train from Kirov arrived this morning.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.