I'm not in Moscow, or even in Russia, so my ability to comment on today's protests is limited by a lack of first-hand knowledge. However, I gather from news, blogs, friends' social networking sites and so on, there are significant, peaceful protests calling for a rerun of the elections. Official figures for Moscow alone are 25,000, while organizers suggest twice that many. A large event occurred in Petersburg and events, difficult to tell of what size, have been reported in many other cities. A safe, conservative estimate is that 100,000 Russian citizens - probably many more - were in the street today.
Most reports suggest this is the largest political event in the country since the early 1990s.
This official response has been to a) allow the protests to happen and b) to paint the protesters, as with those who reported election violations, as tools of foreign governments, especially the United States.
Hopefully this is a story that will be continued.
Most reports suggest this is the largest political event in the country since the early 1990s.
This official response has been to a) allow the protests to happen and b) to paint the protesters, as with those who reported election violations, as tools of foreign governments, especially the United States.
Hopefully this is a story that will be continued.
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