Vladimir Putin's spokesman yesterday defended police action against protesters decrying the Russian politician's presidential election victory, as final results showed that in some parts of Chechnya, Putin had polled an improbable 99.89 per cent of the vote.
Dmitry Peskov said the police had shown a "high level of professionalism, legitimacy and effectiveness" in their handling of the event at Pushkin Square in Moscow on Tuesday.
After most of the 20,000 crowd had dispersed, several hundred people remained on the square and were dragged away by riot police and detained. The police response and Peskov's remarks appear to be meant as a clear signal to the opposition that they will only be allowed to protest in "authorised" places and times.
All of the 250 arrested, including leaders Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, were released within a few hours, and leaders of the informal opposition coalition to Putin are now trying to formulate a strategy to ensure the protest voice does not fade as Russia's longest-standing post-Soviet leader prepares to begin a new six-year Presidential term in May.
Meanwhile, more detailed official results were published yesterday, with the regional breakdown of the vote causing further cause for concern. Many of the republics in the troubled North Caucasus region polled improbably high pro-Putin results on improbably high turnouts, while across the country there were allegations that votes had been added illegally for Putin.
