The stench of dung stopped anti-Kremlin protestors rallying in the Russian city of Murmansk on Tuesday, an opposition activist said.

Opponents of President Vladimir Putn' had hoped to rally on the porch of the Culture Palace but city authorities closed the building, took away the porch's steps and spread dung around it, said Yelena Vasilyeva, local leader of the United Civil Front opposition movement.

"The stench was so strong you couldn't breathe, so only the most tenacious stayed," she said.

Dung was spread around a landmark building to fertilise the land, said a police spokesman in Murmansk, a city not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland.

Around 150 people braved the smell and carried on with the protest shouting "We need a different Russia" and "Out with Putn", Vasilyeva said.

About 10 activists from Moscow were refused tickets to fly to the demonstration where they had planned to speak. Police had also warned local activists against attending, Vasilyeva said.

In Moscow, anti-Kremlin protestors called off a march on Monday after city authorities refused to sanction the planned route, but managed to hold a rally of about 1,500 people.