Human Rights Watch has issued a stern warning to Russia over the tactics used by police against opposition protestors on Sunday at the ‘March of a Million’ protest against Putin’s return.  Whilst acknowledging that in some cases protestors were aggressive towards police officers, the NGO’s account also suggests that a number of police tactics (such the creation of a bottleneck designed to stymy the progress of protestors, the indiscriminate use of tear gas and other weapons) were unacceptable.  Below is just part of their report, which includes the testimony of participants:

Several activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch, including two who were themselves detained, said that riot police in full gear dragged protesters by their arms and feet, twisted their arms, and stomped on people who had fallen to the ground. Witnesses also reported that some people were bleeding from being hit or dragged by police along the asphalt and that at least three demonstrators had to be hospitalized after being released from police precincts later in the evening. Read More »

TODAY: Sporadic protests ongoing in Moscow; 30 more arrested; US and Human Rights Watch express concerns.  Medvedev approved as Prime Minister; Putin scorns parliamentary opposition; plays hockey; UK rights report finds violations; Victory Day celebrated in Moscow

Moscow police have detained about thirty participants of an unsanctioned peaceful protest against Putin’s return to the presidency in downtown Moscow, bringing the total number of people arrested since May 6, to around 750 people.  Anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was released today and then promptly re-arrested.   Whilst protestors continue to roam the capital’s streets, ‘Putin and his people showed little inclination to engage them with anything but contempt’, says the Washington Post.  ‘The Kremlin’s senseless crackdown is the opposition’s best recruiting tool‘: Garry Kasparov gives his views in the Other Russia.   The US State Department has issued a statement saying Washington is ‘troubled’ by reports of the turbulence in Moscow.  Human Rights Watch has also urged the Russian authorities to ‘promptly and effectively investigate reports of excessive use of force against protesters and arbitrary detentions’ over the past three days.  The Telegraph wonders whether the crackdown will spell the end of Putinism. Read More »

In the Washington Post analyst Masha Lipman has offered her views on how Vladimir Putin has maintained his stranglehold over Russia’s body politic for more than a decade.  It is, to her mind, the result of an unspoken contract with the Russian populace, which she explains in the extract below, a contract which is starting to prove unpalatably binding for certain parties:

To address the differences in society, Putin’s government has effectively offered two tacit pacts. For the conservative majority, the deal is: We deliver and you stay loyal. The government can’t provide services such as just courts or a trusted police force, but at least the high price of oil has supported steady growth in state-funded salaries and pensions. Read More »

TODAY: Putin preaches unity and democracy in inauguration address; hundreds of protestors arrested in second day of Moscow protests; Navalny and Udaltsov re-arrested; ongoing opposition turbulence presents major chink in President’s armor, analysts argue; Medvedev for PM.

Vladimir Putin has been inaugurated in his third term as President at a ceremony (which can be viewed here) attended by 3,000 guests, among them Silvio Berlusconi, Patriarch Kirill and Mikhail Prokhorov.  The appearance of his media-shy wife Lyudmila was noted with surprise by the Guardian, who add that she ‘grimaced throughout’.  Putin himself looked ‘grave — and at times burdened’, says the New York Times of the relatively solemn event.  In his five-minute address, using heavily patriotic imagery, the President emphasized the importance of unity, and the necessity of strengthening ‘Russian democracy, constitutional rights and freedoms [...] We want to, and we will, live in a democratic country‘.  Meanwhile, police reported that they detained 120 people in downtown Moscow as around 200 demonstrators wearing white ribbons gathered in protest as the ceremony began.  Ria-Novosti places the number of arrested at 300.  Opposition figureheads Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, who were fined and then released after their arrest on Sunday, were detained once more this morning after an all-night protest at the Kitai-Gorod metro station where around 200 people spent the night and were later dispersed.   Read More »

The palace gleamed, the guns blasted, the applause thundered. For those of you who have not as of yet seen Putin’s pomp-ridden but somewhat peremptory inauguration ceremony this morning, you can do so here.  Yesterday of course, Moscow’s streets played host to a rather different spectacle than that of the President’s sleek motorcade.  Ten of thousands of citizens, from all parts of Russia, gathered to demonstrate against the return of the king.  An atmosphere of violence as of yet unseen in the previous rallies was reported (prompting journalist Masha Gessen, who described her experience of the rally here, to suggest she will not return to another as long as Putin is in power.)  More than 400 people were arrested and dozens injured.  Below video footage from Novaya Gazeta gives an impression of the turbulent scenes: