UPDATE 2-Navalny ally urges Russians to light candles in Valentine's Day protest

Tom Balmforth and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

* Some 11,000 arrested in protests so far

* Volkov says new tactic distances protesters from police

* Authorities accuse Navalny allies of being NATO agents(Adds comments by Kremlin, Russian foreign ministry)

By Tom Balmforth and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

MOSCOW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - An ally of Kremlin critic AlexeiNavalny urged Russians on Tuesday to gather near their homes fora brief Valentine's Day protest, shining their mobile phonetorches and lighting candles in heart shapes to flood socialmedia.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in recent weeksto protest against the jailing of Navalny, a prominent critic ofPresident Vladimir Putin, who says he is being persecuted forpolitical reasons.

Police have detained more than 11,000 people who have takenpart in what they said were unsanctioned protests which theKremlin has condemned as illegal and dangerous.

Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally based outside Russia, calledon people to gather in the residential courtyards near theirhomes at 1700 GMT on Sunday and to stand there for severalminutes shining their mobile phone torches.

He said the format, which is reminiscent of tactics used bythe anti-government opposition in neighbouring Belarus, shouldhelp distance protesters from the police.

He suggested people bring candles and make heart shapes withthem to mark Valentine's Day, and photograph them from above inan event he said would last just 15 minutes.

Supporters, he said, could then flood social media withimages of the protest. The idea for the candles was inspired bythe heart sign Navalny made to his wife in court as he wasjailed, Volkov said.

"Thought you were the only one in the whole big block who isnot indifferent to what's happening in the country? You'll seethat's not the case," Volkov wrote in a post on the Telegrammessenger.

"No OMON (riot police), no fear. Maybe it'll seem like these15 minutes will change nothing - but in fact they will changeeverything."

"CAT AND MOUSE"

His announcement prompted the Russian foreign ministry toaccuse Navalny's allies of acting as NATO agents and ofreceiving instructions from the military alliance to disruptRussian politics.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Volkov had plannedto halt the protests, but had changed his mind after holding avirtual meeting on Monday with representatives of the EuropeanUnion, Britain and the United States.

"This is essentially a meeting of NATO countries. NATO hasinstructed the 'opposition', or rather its agents of influence,on how to continue their undermining work more deviously."

The Kremlin said anyone who broke the law would be broughtto account.

"We're not going to play cat and mouse with anyone, butthere's no doubt our law enforcement agencies will hold theguilty parties to account if the law is broken," Kremlinspokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russiafor the first time since being poisoned last August in Siberiawith what many Western countries said was a nerve agent. TheKremlin has questioned whether he was really poisoned.

He was jailed on Feb. 2 after a court ruled he had violatedthe terms of a suspended sentence in an embezzlement case hesays was trumped up.

The case has sparked new tensions between Russia and theWest and renewed talk of sanctions. Navalny's allies have urgedthe West to target individuals close to Putin with punitivemeasures.(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Anton Zverev and DmitryAntonov; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Osborn andAlison Williams)

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