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.