Russia vote watchdog head detained before election

Russian customs officers held the director of an independent election watchdog for 12 hours at a Moscow airport on Saturday and seized her laptop computer in what the group said was an attempt to stop it monitoring Sunday's parliamentary election.

Liliya Shibanova, executive director of Western-funded group Golos, was detained at Sheremetyevo airport after returning from abroad for the election, which Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is likely to win with a reduced majority.

"The pressure on Golos and its leaders (is) an attempt to block their activities involving independent public monitoring of the election," said a lawyer for Golos, Ramid Akhmetgaliyev.

Campaigning ended on Friday but election posters were allowed on Saturday far away from polling stations if they had been posted earlier. Moscow neighbourhoods were dotted with United Russia posters, but other parties' posters had gone.