Russia arrests hundreds more, detains opposition leaders

As Moscow gears up to celebrate its victory in World War II, 67 years ago Wednesday, the shadow of political conflict shrouds the capital as hundreds of arrests cloud Victory Day festivities.

Police said over 200 arrests were made Tuesday and overnight Wednesday on the eve of the anniversary, including repeat detentions for Left-Front leader Sergei Udaltsov and anti-corruption bloggerAlexei Navalny, who was arrested twice in a single evening, Interfax reported. Socialite Kseniya Sobchack and State Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov were also among those [...]

May 9th, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: All | Leave a comment

Russian police battle anti-Putin protesters

Russian riot police beat protesters about the head with batons and detained 250 on Sunday after clashes broke out at a Moscow rally by thousands of people against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency.

Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov were among those detained during violence that showed the depth of divisions and tensions in Russia as the former KGB spy starts his [...]

May 6th, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: All | Leave a comment

Russian opposition sees jailing as Putin warning

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian courts jailed one of the organizers ofopposition protests for 10 days, fined another and gave the husband of a third a five-year prison term for fraud on Thursday in rulings the opposition said were a warning signal from Vladimir Putin.

The punishments fuelled anger over what Putin’s critics say is a corrupt judicial system and are likely to heighten opposition fears of a crackdown following his election to a [...]

March 15th, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: All | Leave a comment

Tens of thousands of protesters pressure Putin

 

(Reuters) – Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called Saturday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun and an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, increasing pressure on the Russian leader as he tries to win back the presidency.

The protesters shouted “Russia without Putin” and “New elections, New elections” as one speaker after another called for an end to Putin’s 12-year domination of the country at the second big [...]

December 24th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: All | Leave a comment

Medvedev’s TWITTER obscenity provokes shock

(Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev caused shock and jeers on Wednesday after an obscene insult directed at political opponents appeared on his official Twitter feed.

The Kremlin chief and his more powerful mentor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have been facing growing opposition to their rule by protesters who say parliamentary elections on Sunday were not fair.

The offensive post appeared to have been retweeted on the MedvedevRussia feed at 33 minutes [...]

December 7th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Category: All | Leave a comment