Three detained in protest over Putin's election win

More than 20,000 protesters streamed through Moscow yesterday denouncing Vladimir Putin's presidential election win, but the crowd's relatively small size suggested the opposition movement has lost momentum.

The protest on Novy Arbat Street ended peacefully, but leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov and two of his followers were detained afterwards as they tried to march to nearby Pushkin Square.

Putin won 64 per cent of the vote and is set to return to the Kremlin for six years.