We reported here yesterday that the youth movement leader Oleg Kozlovsky was being persecuted by the Russian FSB, and had had his passport renewal application withheld for spurious reasons (he had previously been forcibly conscripted to the army during the last elections).

Just recently I read on his Twitter feed that the government had capitulated, and decided to grant him his travel documentation after the subject got picked up and spread by Russian bloggers.

It’s great to see that even this government still responds to public pressure (something we have seen in the aftermath of the murder of Sergei Magnitsky).  Unless, of course, the issue at hand brings too much public attention, such as the whistle blowing cop Alexei Dymovsky who earned the title of YouTube hit of the year for his confessions and disgust over widespread petty corruption and abuses the Russian police (and with the journalist Popov having been beaten to death in police holding this week, Dymovsky’s statements have all the more urgency).