Kovalyov's Volte Face

Just one day after his surprising agreement to become an official representative of Ksenia Sobchak's campaign, Russian human rights legend Sergei Kovalyov abruptly changed his mind, saying he'd committed "a flagrant mistake."

Kovalyov, the 87-year-old Soviet-era dissident and heir to the mantle of Andrei Sakharov, made the announcement in an open letter to Sobchak published on February 14.

Kovalyov expressed respect for Sobchak's idea to run as the candidate "against all" but added that he did not believe the idea would make a difference, in part because Sobchak "isn't thinking primarily about the task" but about her role in it. "Good intentions in civic matters turn to dust as soon as professional devices intended for other purposes -- for example, show business or advertising -- are introduced into them," he wrote.

Kovalyov added that the camera crews that recorded in live-stream format his meeting with Sobchak on February 13 showed up at the elderly activist's home "without warning, without knocking, without ringing the bell." He said that was an example of Sobchak's "professional devices of a politician and a showwoman."

Kovalyov blamed himself for the misunderstanding and asked Sobchak's forgiveness.

Kovalyov was quoted by TASS as saying he would "probably, in keeping with tradition, and without any hope of success," vote for Yabloko candidate Grigory Yavlinsky for president. Kovalyov was a State Duma deputy from Yabloko in 2003 and joined the party in 2006.

Sobchak has not commented on Kovalyov's about-face, and her original announcement of his decision to join her campaign was still on her website early on February 14.

Local Issues Said To Intrigue Voters More Than Presidential Vote

In an article published on February 13, Dmitry Kolezev, deputy editor of the online news site Znak.com, argues that for many voters out in Russia’s hinterlands -- in his hometown of Yekaterinburg, in particular -- next month’s presidential election is a charade that feeds the impression that the national government in Moscow is out of touch with local issues.

For example, he says Yekaterinburg residents have been more riled up in recent months over the construction of a new Orthodox church, or whether certain streets should be renamed, or the preparations for next year’s World Cup soccer tournament. And yet, he writes:

"Everything is decided in Moscow. The Kremlin practically appoints the governors, and the federal government allocates all the funding. Even small local issues have to be discussed with superiors in Moscow. And this is why the local authorities don’t feel any responsibility to their citizens. Who cares what people are talking about if your fate is in the hands of men in the capital?”

Commission Member Bats Down Sobchak's Supreme Court Challenge Of Putin

Shortly after Ksenia Sobchak filed her case with the Russian Supreme Court to have President Putin removed from the ballot, an official of the Central Election Commission responded.

Nikolai Bulaev, deputy chairman of the commission, said the topic -- presumably referring to the constitutionality of third and fourth terms for Putin -- has been chewed over many times, adding: "At the present moment, there are no restrictions barring Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] from running."

Sobchak Files Supreme Court Case To Remove Putin From Ballot

Candidate Sobchak has filed a case with the Supreme Court requesting that President Putin be removed from the ballot.

The reason? She revives a lingering debate over the country's constitutional ban on anyone serving more than two consecutive terms.

Putin served two full four-year terms, 2000-04 and 2004-08, before taking up the prime minister's post while his hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, spent four years in the Kremlin.

He then won a new six-year term in 2012.

Anti-Putin Posters in Leningrad Oblast

St. Petersburg activist Andrei Pivovarov has posted on Facebook some photographs of anti-Putin election posters that he found in surrounding Leningrad Oblast.

"Say yes to the motherland! Say no to Putin!" the homemade signs and graffiti say. One adds: "Peace to Ukraine. Freedom to Russia."

More On Schools

A teacher in Kazan (who asked not to be named) said faculty at High School No. 75 have all been ordered to vote in the March 18 presidential election. "It doesn't matter who you vote for, the administration says, but you must vote," the teacher said.

In addition, teachers have been instructed to call students' parents at home and urge them to vote.

The director of the school, Larisa Pomykova, said these reports were "complete disinformation" and refused to comment further.

In January, RFE/RL reported that the education department in Kazan had ordered all kindergarten staff to come to work with their passports and sign petitions in support of Putin's candidacy. Education officials also denied this report.

Tatarstan historically has one of the highest rates of electoral falsification in Russia and has been targeted by opposition politician Aleksei Navalny for particularly close monitoring this time around.

School Lines Up Students For Putin

An English teacher in Daghestan enlisted schoolchildren in a pro-Putin action, Current Time TV reports.

The local administration posted on VK the lineup of kids holding signs like "Putin our President" and "Thanks for everything to Putin," and "We vote for Putin."

More Portraits of Putin From Children

Blogger Ilya Varlamov has collected some of the portraits of President Putin that have been submitted to a national competition being organized in connection with the March 18 election.

Election Supervisor Says Four Candidates Filed 'Inauthentic' Asset Declarations

The Central Election Commission says four candidates have not yet filed "authentic information about their income," according to Interfax.

The commission did not say which candidates it had in mind but merely added that the four have been informed of the problem and that it will be corrected before the official election poster is printed.

Asset declarations can be seen by clicking on the names of the candidates on the Central Election Commission's website.

Back to the terrible '90s?

One of the main arguments that Putin's supporters like to assert is that he pulled Russia out of the "disaster" of the 1990s.

But in at least one regard, Putin is returning to that time. His election slogan -- "A strong president -- a strong Russia!" was apparently first test-marketed by Boris Yeltsin, as this side-by-side image shows. Right down to the exclamation mark.

It isn't clear, but the Yeltsin poster probably stems from the time of Russia's April 1993 referendum on whether Russians backed the president or the parliament in the country's developing political standoff. Russians still remember how to vote on that four-question referendum from the endlessly repeated slogan, "Da, da, nyet, da."