The Russian Service of the BBC conducted on-the-spot interviews with participants in a pro-government rally in Moscow on February 3, most of whom said they were state-sector workers who had been encouraged to come by their employers. When asked whether it was fair that opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and more than 350 of his supporters had been arrested for trying to demonstrate nearby on January 28, most respondents either said they had not heard of those events or said that the arrests were justified because the government had not granted Navalny permission to demonstrate.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky cut a rug on the campaign trail recently in a video going around.
It's the flamboyant ultranationalist's sixth presidential campaign, so he was actually in that 1996 race in which Boris Yeltsin famously danced that jig on his way to reelection as Russia's president. (Zhirinovsky polled 5.8 percent back then.)
Here's an RFE/RL infographic offering some insight into what Russians expected coming into this election year.
- By Carl Schreck
Eyes Out For Suspicious Turnout
Opposition leader Navalny, barred from running due to a criminal conviction he and his supporters call fabricated, has launched an election-monitoring initiative for the presidential poll.
In a February 2 post on his website, Navalny called for volunteers to sign up as observers, with a focus on regions that traditionally report suspiciously high voter turnout.
- By Carl Schreck
Peskov promises to be more careful after election chief's criticism
President Putin's spokesman has promised to watch his words after Russia's elections chief, Ella Pamfilova, criticized him for "clear signs of campaigning" in his earlier comments about his boss, RBK reports.
Dmitry Peskov on January 29 said 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."
Under Russian law, public servants are not allowed to use their position to promote a particular candidate.
The independent Russian election monitor Golos has collected scores of reports of state-controlled media and institutions effectively campaigning for Putin ahead of the March 18 presidential election he's expected to win in a landslide.
Less than two months ahead of the election, a Moscow court convicts one of the highest-ranking officials to be arrested in office since Putin was first elected president in 2000.
Russian Ex-Governor Given Eight Years In High-Profile Bribery Case
A Moscow court has sentenced former Kirov Oblast Governor Nikita Belykh to eight years in prison following his conviction on bribery charges.
The court on February 1 also ordered Belykh to pay a 48.5 million ruble ($866,000) fine in the high-profile case. Belykh was also barred from holding public office for an additional three years.
Full story here.
Will Yavlinsky get a Kremlin job after elections?
Ekho Moskvy is reporting that Grigory Yavlinsky might replace Vladislav Surkov as the Kremlin point man on Ukraine (!?!)
Cadre Rotations Ahead Of Elections?
Carnegie Moscow Center's Tatiana Stanovaya looks at the personnel changes that are in the works for after the election and what they portend for the system.
There are now 8 candidates left in the running
The deadline for candidates to submit signatures of support to the Central Election Commission passed on January 31.
Six of them did so, including Putin, Sobchak, Yavlinsky, Suraikin, Titov, Baburin. The Central Election Commission now has 10 days to verify signatures. Two other candidates backed by parliamentary parties automatically passed this stage.
So the candidates still standing are:
Vladimir Putin
Sergei Baburin of the Russian All-People Union
Ksenia Sobchak, a TV personality
Maksim Suraikin of the Communists Of Russia party
Boris Titov, business ombudsman
Grigory Yavlinsky, Yeltsin-era liberal founder of Yabloko
Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Pavel Grudinin of the Communist Party