'Within The Framework Of The Law'

If you repeat something enough, people will believe it. The cheeky website Meduza has this mashup of Putin saying that everything must be done "within the framework of the law" about a million times over the course of his long rule. Enjoy.

Standing Alone

Chemist Igor Prosanov greeted President Vladimir Putin during a campaign stop in Novosibirsk on February 8 with a one-man protest wearing a vest emblazoned with the slogan: "Putin Is Russia's Misfortune."

"Within 15 minutes, a police colonel came up and spoke with him," a local newspaper wrote. "After the officer left, two men in plain clothes came up to the picketer and hustled him into a civilian car."

On February 9, the newspaper got a letter from the regional election commission saying that Prosanov's vest had been declared illegal campaign material because it "formed a negative impression of presidential candidate V.V. Putin." Publishing the photograph, the letter warned, could be prosecuted as illegal campaigning. So the publication blurred out the last few letters of Putin's name in the photo for their article.

Sobchak Says Russian Election Meddling 'Unacceptable'

Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak says it appears that Moscow meddled in the U.S. presidential election in 2016, and called any such interference "unacceptable."

Sobchak, who has raised eyebrows by making a lengthy trip to the United States weeks ahead of the March 18 election in Russia, spoke in an interview with CNN that was broadcast on February 8.

"It sounds [like] we really had something to do with it. If that's so, I want to say sorry," Sobchak told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

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Ready To Rally

Russian President Vladimir Putin's campaign is planning a large rally in support of the incumbent ahead of the March 18 poll, according to a February 9 report by RBK, which cited one source as saying there could be some 100,000 people at the event.

There have been numerous reports over the past decade of demonstrators being pressured by employers -- especially state-sector employers -- or being paid to show up at pro-Kremlin rallies

A demonstration ahead of Putin's 2012 election was estimated by authorities -- whom critics accuse of overstating crowd sizes of pro-government rallies -- to have attracted more than 130,000 people.

A correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service was promised 500 rubles ($16 at the time) to attend and was driven to the event by bus with others who were given pro-Putin placards to hold.

With the outcome of this year's election basically preordained, analysts say the Kremlin is trying to boost turnout and undertake other efforts to demonstrate that Putin has a broad mandate from the Russian public.

Police in Novokuznetsk have been given instructions to guard posters and billboards depicting President Vladimir Putin from vandalism in the run-up to the March 18 presidential election. Police in Syktyvkar have received the same orders.

RFE/RL's Russian Service reports:

В Новокузнецке полиция получила приказ охранять баннеры с Путиным

В Новокузнецке в преддверии выборов президента России сотрудникам полиции было поручено охранять плакаты с изображением действующего главы государства Владимира Путина. Об сообщает сайт "Сибирь.Реалии" со ссылкой на источник в полиции города.

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Symbolic Numbers

Twelve supporters of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny in the Siberian city of Tomsk have collectively been given an extraordinarily large fine of 282,000 rubles ($4,850).

RFE/RL's Russian Service reports that the activists were fined during court hearings on February 7 and 8.

"The figure 282 is a symbolic sum, since that is the number of the Criminal Code article for extremism," local Navalny coordinator Ksenia Fadeyeva told RFE/RL.

She said they plan to appeal the fines, which were handed down for their role in organizing and participating in a national January 28 rally that Navalny called to urge Russians to boycott the presidential election.

On February 8, four Navalny activists in the Bashkortostan capital Ufa were fined a total of 195,000 rubles ($3,350) for participating in the same event.

On February 9, Navalny's local offices in Novosibirsk and Vladivostok reported they had been visited by police. In Novosibirsk, police confiscated new leaflets, while in Vladivostok, police officers stopped a Navalny activist on the street and forcibly took away his office keys. However, they were unable to unlock the door and left without stating their business.

Ballot Deja Vu

Some Russians continue to mock the sample election ballot that was released earlier this week. Many have noted that the ballot design seems to favor President Putin by placing him squarely in the center surrounded by blank space where his biography should go. The other candidates, conveniently three above Putin (plus the instructions) and four below him, all have dense paragraphs of biographic information.

One Twitter wag compared the ballot design to one used in Germany in 1938, writing: "I have to admit there are still differences, but they are trying."

Promising A Rose Garden

Officials in Crimea, the Ukrainian region annexed by Russia in 2014, are trying to convince Crimean Tatars to support President Putin in the March election, RFE/RL's Crimean Desk reports.

It is a tough sell, as Crimean Tatars overwhelmingly rejected the annexation of the region and their independent institutions have been completely dismantled over the last four years. Ukrainian and international rights activists, as well as Western governments, have complained of systematic persecution of Crimean Tatars in their native region.

Nonetheless, the deputy head of the Russia-imposed administration in Simferopol, Ismet Ablayev, said on February 8 that money for a number of infrastructure projects in Crimean Tatar parts of the city has been allocated and "they have been included in the city's construction plan for 2018."

Officials in recent days have also promised to build a road connecting two Crimean Tatar neighborhoods -- Ak-Mechet and Fontany -- and to open a 280-place kindergarten in the latter.

Refat Chubarov, the head of the independent Crimean Tatar Mejlis, told RFE/RL: "The occupation authorities perfectly well understand the mood among Crimean Tatars. An absolute majority of Crimean Tatars will not participate in this election. So in order to find a certain number of collaborators, they are trying to spin people's minds as much as possible, including by promising to resolve problems that haven't been resolved for years in places where Crimean Tatars live. These traps are perfectly obvious."

Ukraine has complained to the international community, urging them to pressure Russia not to hold its election on the annexed Ukrainian peninsula.

Authorities Irked By Navalny's Boycott Campaign

Navalny's campaign for a voters' strike is prompting not so much a reduction of anticipated turnout as a crackdown from police and the authorities, writes Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

It reports that Navalny supporters are feeling the heat in regions across the country: in Sochi they are being summoned for educational talks at schools; in Kemerovo they are being threatened with violence; and in Sverdlovsk they are being threatened with the loss of their jobs

Tagging Putin

Unknown vandals have been shooting paintball guns loaded with red paint at the billboards promoting President Vladimir Putin's candidacy in the Siberian city of Tomsk, local Tomsk TV2 reported.

The station posted photos of at least two billboards on which the image of Putin was spattered with blood-red paint.

Earlier on February 9, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported that police in Novokuznetsk and Syktyvkar had been ordered to guard Putin's billboards 24 hours a day. The Novokuznetsk order came after a vandal painted the word "Liar" on one of Putin's advertisements.

A YouTube blogger in Syktyvkar posted this video of police protecting Putin's billboards: