More Grudinin And Stalin
I'm guessing this guy's no Grudinin fan. A "Baby Stalin" meme? Follows up on Grudinin's lavish praise.
Election Observers & 'Russia 1' vs. 'Russia 2'
Political scientist Yekaterina Shulman explains on YouTube the importance of having observers at elections and talks specifically about their importance in the context of the Russian elections.
During elections, she says, we can talk of two different Russias.
In "Russia 1," which consists of cities and central Russian regions, it is harder for authorities to pull off brazen falsifications. In "Russia 2," which includes North Caucasus regions or for instance rural Russia, falsifications are more possible. But the boundary between the two can move, and election observers can make a difference, influencing where this dividing line falls.
Via Interfax:
PESKOV: PUTIN CAN VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN ANY REGION OF RUSSIA, NOT AWARE OF HIS PLANS TO DO IT IN SEVASTOPOL
An "exotic idea" is the way Aleksei Pushkov, a senior pro-Kremlin lawmaker in Russia, has described a vote in Ukraine's parliament to urge the international community to demand that Russia not conduct its presidential election in Crimea, occupied and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Pushkov tweeted that "the world community is not voting in Crimea and nothing in Crimea depends on it [the world community]."
Washington Renames Street Outside Russian Embassy After Nemtsov
By RFE/RL
WASHINGTON -- The city council of Washington, D.C., has renamed the street where Russia's embassy is located to honor the memory of slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in a move that Moscow has complained about.
Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation For Freedom, said on February 6 that an official ceremony to rename the block of Wisconsin Avenue as Boris Nemtsov Plaza is scheduled for February 27, the third anniversary of Nemtsov's assassination.
MORE
Yavlinsky Officially Becomes Fourth Registered Candidate
The Central Election Commission has announced the registration of a fourth presidential candidate: Yabloko founder and liberal economist Grigory Yavlinsky.
Yavlinsky ran in 1996, 2000, and 2012, but was barred from running in 2012 after the commission ruled too many of his public signatures were invalid.
The other three candidates so far are Putin, the LDPR's Zhirinovsky, and the Communist Party's Pavel Grudinin.
Titov, Baburin Become Fifth And Sixth Registered Candidates
The Central Election Commission certified the candidacies today of Russian Business Ombudsman and Chairman of the Party of Growth Boris Titov, as well as Russian All-People's Union leader Sergei Baburin.
- By Carl Schreck
Kyiv Expects Rebuke For Moscow Over Crimea Voting
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says he wants a tough reaction from the West -- the United States in particular -- to Russian voting in annexed Crimea in the Russian election.
Yatsenyuk, who became prime minister after the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych amid mass street protests in February 2014, made the comments on February 6 in Washington, where he met with U.S. officials, including Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.
Russia has been hit by U.S. and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and backing of separatists in a bloody war in eastern Ukraine. In March 2014, a resolution urging the international community "not to recognize any alteration of the status" of Crimea passed by a vote of 100-11 with 58 abstentions.
This is Russia's first presidential election since then.
Yatsenyuk left the government in an April 2016 shake-up and was succeeded by current Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman.
Russia's Election Commission Registers Three More Presidential Candidates
By RFE/RL
Russia's Central Election Commission has registered three more candidates for the March 18 presidential election, raising the total number of candidates to six.
The commission on February 7 formally registered the candidacies of Boris Titov from the Party of Growth, Sergei Baburin of the Russian All-People Union Party, and Grigory Yavlinsky of the Yabloko party.
On February 6, the candidacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin was formally registered -- exactly two months after he announced his intention to seek a fourth term.
Kremlin critics say most of the other candidates are window-dressing in a vote Putin is certain to win in Russia's tightly controlled political environment.
Also officially registered are Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and Communist Party nominee Pavel Grudinin.
Others who have expressed intentions to run include TV personality Ksenia Sobchak and the leader of the Communists of Russia Party, Maksim Suraikin.