MOSCOW -- A leader of the protest movement against the building of a highway through the Khimki forest outside of Moscow was detained today by police, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
Yevgenia Chirikova was surrounded by OMON special police forces after a press conference with several other activists at the Independent Press Center in Moscow.
She was prevented from speaking to journalists as she was being detained.
Police said she was being taken for questioning and to discuss several "documents."
Attempts by RFE/RL to contact Chirikova were unsuccessful, as her mobile phone was turned off.
Chirikova and dozens of other protesters are trying to persuade the authorities to stop logging an area of the Khimki forest that is slated to be used to build a section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway.