The Kremlin said Monday that anti-corruption protests in Moscow and other cities that resulted in more than 1,000 arrests a day earlier amounted to a "provocation."

"Essentially what we saw yesterday in several places -- probably especially in Moscow -- is a provocation and a lie," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He also said children had been "promised financial rewards in the event of their detention by law enforcement agencies" during the protests.