Alexei Navalny in Russia amid arrest threats

Fierce Kremlin critic and political campaigner Alexei Navalny headed back to Russia on Sunday, despite being warned by Russian authorities that he will be arrested upon his arrival.

Navalny left Berlin on a flight operated by Russian airline Pobeda and was scheduled to land at Moscow's Vnukovo airport. Just minutes before his arrival, however, Pobeda airline said the smaller airport was closed for arriving planes. The screens at Vnukovo then showed the flight as being diverted to Shermetyevo.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), founded by Navalny, confirmed his arrival to Shermetyevo and invited people to "come meet him."

"You might still make it!" they wrote on Twitter.

While reasons for switching airports were not immediately clear, Russian authorities have threatened to arrest Navalny upon return. On Sunday, Moscow police detained several of his aides at Vnukovo and cleared the crowd that gathered to welcome him at his scheduled destination. Security had been tightened around the Moscow airport awaiting Navalny's arrival. The 44-year-old called on his supporters to meet him there, but authorities warned against unauthorized rallies on the premises.

'What bad thing can happen to me in Russia?'

Before taking off from Berlin, Navalny told reporters he was "very happy" and was "sure everything will be great."

He dismissed the fears he would be arrested upon arrival.

"Arrest me upon landing!? That cannot be done," he said.

"What do I need to be afraid of? What bad thing can happen to me in Russia?" he told reporters, saying he was innocent of any wrongdoing and felt he was "a citizen of Russia who has every right" to go back to his native country.

Police in Moscow detain Navalny aides

While Navalny was in the air, however, his close ally Ivan Zhdanov reported that several of Navalny's associates were detained in Moscow while waiting for the politician's plane to land.

The Russian authorities detained dissident and anti-corruption lawyer Lyobov Sobol as well Navalny's assistant Ilya Pahomov, along with several others, according to Zhdanov, who leads Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Navalny supporters posted this video from inside the airport, claiming that it showed the detainment of Sobol, Navalny's brother Oleg, and FBK official Ruslan Shaveddinov.

The news on Sobol's detainment was also confirmed by Russia's Dozhd TV. The independent broadcaster published a video of a man flying a Russian flag and chanting Navalny's name while at the same time calling President Vladimir Putin a "thief" at Vnukovo. The man was later detained, according to Dozhd.

Soon after, Dozhd reporter Eduard Burmistrov was also briefly detained while broadcasting live.

"Police officers literally grabbed me and are now dragging me somewhere," he said in the video posted on Twitter.

Earlier on Sunday, Sobol posted a video on her channel where she said she "went through [airport security] as usual."

The 33-year-old activist said she brought a special backpack with her because she had expected to be detained while making her way to the Vnukovo terminal.

Sobol added that "this is how it usually goes."

"I'm very happy that made it through the airport, that I'm sitting here and I'm very much hoping I would be able to meet Navalny and that there would be no provocations from the government," she told Russian Novaya Gazeta.

Navalny's wife makes movie reference before takeoff

"I'm flying home," Navalny posted from the tarmac.

The tweet links to a short video posted on his Instagram channel, which shows Navalny sitting in the plane next to his wife Yulia. He and his wife are seen taking off their face masks, with Yulia then saying, "Kid, get us some water, we are flying home" in reference to a final scene of the popular Russian movie "Brat 2." The 2000 film ends with a male and a female character taking a flight from the US to Moscow.

One of Putin's main rivals, Navalny was flown to Berlin in August last year after surviving an assassination attempt from the Novichok nerve agent.

Authorities intend to put the activist behind bars

The Russian federal prison service FSIN said on Thursday that it would take all actions necessary to detain him and had requested that his suspended sentence be upgraded to jail time.

Navalny was convicted in 2014 of fraud charges that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled unlawful.

"In theory, they can detain him as soon as he arrives [in Russia] but initially only for 48 hours," said Vadim Kobzev, one of Navalny's lawyers.

Moscow has denied all allegations of poisoning the anti-corruption activist although scientists in Germany, Sweden and France, as well as tests from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons all confirmed traces of the Soviet-era nerve-agent found on Navalny.

The activist also recorded a phone call with the agent who allegedly poisoned him admitting to his actions. Moscow has rejected the recordings as fake.

Navalny's poisoning and later treatment in Germany have been a source of contention between Russia and the EU.

Late last year, the European Union imposed travel bans and bank account freezes on several Russian officials over the incident, including the head of Russia's FSB intelligence service.

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