The German government said that further sanctions against Russia cannot be ruled out amid Russian critic Alexey Navalny's arrest.

A Moscow court sent Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny to prison for more than two and a half years, prompting protests all over the country. 

Alexey Navalny was detained two weeks ago upon his return to Moscow from Berlin, where he spent several months recovering from poisoning  -an attack he blames on Russian security services and on Russian president Vladimir Putin himself.

The court ruled that while Navalny was in Germany, he violated probation terms from a 2014 case in which he had received a suspended sentence of 3,5 years. 

According to the spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel Steffen Seibert, Berlin will discuss further steps with its European partners.

The United States, Britain, Germany, and the EU called on Moscow to release Navalny immediately.