Gudkov: Govt Must Respond to Demands of Protesters

From Catherine Belton at the Financial Times:

Some warn that Mr Putin’s reluctance to respond to any of the opposition’s demands – such as a thorough investigation of vote rigging claims or the removal of the head of the central election commission – is radicalising some parts of the movement.

“The authorities are pretending that nothing is happening, and because of this it means the protests are starting to radicalise – there are calls for an escalation,” said Gennady Gudkov, an opposition leader from the Just Russia parliamentary party.

“It is becoming very difficult to co-ordinate the work of the [protest] organising committee … We will continue to push for mass peaceful protests, but we are reminding the authorities that we need to see a result, at the very least an attempt to enter into dialogue,” Mr Gudkov told the Financial Times.