Russian Opposition Meets Police Opposition

President Vladimir Putin is no stranger to suspicions/allegations that he is working to subvert democracy in Russia. Now, anti-Kremlin demonstrations have broken out in Moscow and St. Petersburg claiming just that. Various opposition group leaders have been arrested and at least one reporter in Moscow said he observed interior ministry troops and a water-cannon poised to meet the protesters. These opposition groups, including the National Bolsheviks and the Yabloko party broadly affiliated in the Other Russia coalition, were permitted to hold their rally, but forbidden from marching. A police contingent of some 9,000 officers descended on Moscow to prevent any demonstrators from amassing in Pushkin Square. Opposition leader and former chess world champion Garry Kasparov had this to say following his arrest at the rally: "It is no longer a country ... where the government tries to pretend it is playing by the letter and spirit of the law." Putin has denied he is undermining Russian democracy, responding that the opposition groups are actually the ones damaging Russia.

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