The Power Vertical's Brian Whitmore speculated in his Morning Vertical on February 1 on the Kremlin's strategy with respect to opposition leader, and barred would-be presidential candidate, Aleksei Navalny:

Vladimir Putin's regime sure is expending a lot of energy on someone it claims not to be worried about....

In his remarks about Navalny, [Putin spokesman Dmitry] Peskov said: "I don't think anybody can doubt that Putin is the absolute leader of public opinion, the absolute leader of the political Olympus...with whom it is unlikely that anyone can seriously compete with at this stage."

Certainly not in the stage-managed event scheduled for March 18 that the Kremlin calls an election. The result of the vote is a foregone conclusion.

But the Kremlin appears spooked by Navalny's ability to spoil the big show and to troll the regime's legitimization ritual.

And in the bigger picture, in the Russia beyond March 18, the Kremlin is clearly worried about Navalny despite Peskov's protestations to the contrary.

From our Newsroom:

Russia Kills Suspected Militant, Claims Election-Day Attack Thwarted

Russian law enforcement authorities say they have killed a suspected Islamic militant who they suggested may have been plotting an attack on the day of the presidential election next month.

In a statement on February 1, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said officers killed the man when he put up armed resistance as they attempted to arrest him in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod.

The suspect was from an unnamed former Soviet republic other than Russia and was a member of the militant group Islamic State (IS), it said, without providing evidence.

It said the suspect "was prepared to carry out" a terrorist attack on March 18, the day of an election that seems certain to hand President Vladimir Putin a new six-year term.

A search turned up a powerful homemade bomb, components for more explosive devices, guns, and ammunition, it said.

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The Turnout Watch

State pollster VTsIOM now says that 71 percent of Russians intend to take part in the elections, surpassing an important benchmark for the Kremlin, which is thought to be aiming for 70-percent turnout. In December, the independent Levada Center had been forecasting record low turnout of 52-54 percent. (It's hard to motivate people to vote at an election that is a foregone conclusion.) Navalny has since begun campaigning for an election boycott. It is possible that Grudinin and Sobchak, new faces in the running, may have injected some interest.

Here is the polling data from VTsIOM. Bear in mind it is a state pollster. Levada now cannot publish election data because of its "foreign agent" status.

Navalny Media Aide Given Eight-Day Sentence Over Election-Boycott Protest

By RFE/RL's Russian Service

A Moscow court has sentenced a prominent associate of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to eight days in jail on charges of participating in an illegal demonstration.

Ruslan Shaveddinov, who hosts video programs on Navalny's YouTube channel, was pronounced guilty and sentenced on January 31, one day after he and Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, were detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

The court's ruling stressed that Shaveddinov's violations were committed "with the goal of forming a negative image of one of the registered candidates" for the March 18 presidential election, evidently referring to incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

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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.

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.

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.