- By Mike Eckel
Russian Polling Place In Pyongyang
Russians can vote in one of the most repressive countries in the world: North Korea.
Once stalwart communist allies, ties between Pyongyang and Moscow withered after the Soviet collapse. But the two countries maintain diplomatic relations, and some limited economic interaction. And Pyongyang has been in the news a lot lately over its nuclear weapons program and heated public standoff with the United States.
- By Mike Eckel
Yekaterinburg's mayor speaks his mind
The mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city has been known for not toeing the party line since he was first elected in 2013, defeating the candidate of the dominant ruling United Russia party.
This year is no exception for Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, who is supporting barred candidate Navalny's calls for a boycott of the vote.
Roizman is also said to be trying to figure out his own political future, saying that there is legislation pending that would end direct election of the city’s mayor.
Huge banner in Krasnodar alleges bluntly that "Putin is a coward, a thief, a murderer! People, wake up!"
Putin said to be burning through campaign funds
Sobesednik newspaper takes a look at the opaque support foundations that appear to be financing President Putin's reelection campaign. Sobesednik also totes up the publicly visible expenses his campaign has clocked up so far and estimates they alone should cost over 1 billion rubles -- 2.5 times more than the legal amount presidential candidates may blow on the campaign trail. And there's still a long way to go till March 18.
- By Carl Schreck
Sobchak registers
The presidential campaign of Russian journalist and television personality Ksenia Sobchak says she has submitted the required signatures to register for the March 18 ballot.
Sobchak's campaign website said on January 31 that the signatures have been handed over to the Central Election Commission (CEC). It said the campaign had collected a total of 140,201 signatures. In order for her to make the ballot, the CEC must check the signatures and ensure that at least 100,000 of them are valid.
Sochak is the daughter of Putin's political mentor, the late St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. She says a vote for her would be a protest against the current government, though her candidacy is widely seen as having the blessing of the Kremlin. Sochak has publicly sparred with barred opposition leader Aleksei Navalny over her presidential run. Navalny has said her participation lends an air of legitimacy to a rigged electoral process.
Sobchak's campaign said the CEC would be examining the signatures over the next 10 days. She said she sees "no reason why I wouldn't be registered."
'Paradoxical' Election To Usher In 'New Period'?
Independent journalist Oleg Kashin cites a "paradoxical" atmosphere in Russia ahead of an election that is at once seen as a foregone conclusion with a known outcome but that is also imbued with the feeling of an ending era.
"It seems indisputable that this is not forever and that a new period is truly somewhere really close," Kashin writes in a piece for Republic on January 31.
The Novaya Gazeta interview with Yavlinsky...
...is mostly about Russia's perilous position internationally and the perceived "dead-end" that Putin has led it into, which present the country with an existential threat. He blames Putin for "aggressive ambition, relying on hidden and open blackmail, unpredictability, placing oneself in opposition to a group of the most powerful and influential political and economic forces of the modern world."
Since the West has concluded that it cannot influence Russia's leadership, he says, it has instead decided to isolate Russia as much as possible, considering Russia a serious threat.
Volynets Abandons Presidential Bid
While Sobchak appears to have taken a formal step to run in the presidential election by submitting the required signatures, another candidate has announced she is bowing out. Irina Volynets announced on January 31 she was ending her a campaign that few probably knew had even started.
Election Monitor Defends Russians' Call For Vote Boycott
NGO Golos -- an independent election monitor that Russian authorities compelled to register as a "foreign agent" -- issues a statement arguing that public calls for an election boycott are legal and protected.
It says: "The Constitutional Court has repeatedly said that elections can only be considered free if citizens have a guaranteed right to receive and distribute information and the freedom to express their opinions."
It also says elections without the conditions for the free exchange of information cannot be considered free or legitimate.
Golos calls on the Election Commission to revoke local election commission orders to shut down Navalny offices, confiscate his materials, and ban calls for boycotts.