Taken completely by surprise, this weekend observers of Russia witnessed what may be described in the history books as the turning point in the Putin era, as tens of thousands of protesters (according to some sources, as many as 100,000) – under dozens of banners and causes but united by one message – took over the streets of Moscow and seized the world’s attention.  Not quite an Arab Spring, there are some murmurs of this movement building throughout the Russian Winter.

The December 10th protests represent the culmination of a week of post-election unrest what saw the arrests and jailing of more than 1200 people, including opposition figureheads Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin.  The public anger over blatant vote rigging found its target in United Russia, entitled as “the party of crooks and thieves,” along with election chief Vladimir Churov, whom they have anointed as “the magician.”  There was also no shortage of banners carrying the simple message “Russia without Putin” along with a demand for fresh elections.