Political and social activist Aleksei Navalny speaks during an opposition protest in central Moscow on December 5.
Sunday's legislative elections in Russia appear to have crystallized mounting discontent with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's rule. Moscow this week witnessed its largest demonstrations in a decade. The Kremlin, meanwhile, appears increasingly out of touch with a rapidly changing society.
In the latest edition of The Power Vertical podcast, I speak with Kirill Kobrin, managing editor of RFE/RL's Russian Service, about the new political reality that appears to be emerging.
In a wide-ranging conversation, we discussed Russia's newly assertive civil society, its increasingly divided elite, the prominent role the Internet and social media are now playing in opposition politics, and the rise of anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny.
