Russian opposition and ordinary Muscovites planned to take to the streets of Moscow yesterday to demand free and fair polls, despite a police crackdown including the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
This week authorities jailed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top opponent for 30 days and launched a probe targeting his allies, but activists said they would not abandon plans to attend an unauthorized rally.
Authorities launched the clampdown as opposition politicians are fighting to get on the ballot for a Moscow parliament election in September amid anger over worsening living standards and Putin’s falling approval ratings.
Last weekend, 22,000 people turned up for a Moscow protest, the largest such demonstration in years, after authorities refused to allow opposition candidates to run, citing what critics say are spurious reasons.
After the opposition threatened an even bigger rally on July 27 outside the mayor’s offices, Navalny was jailed and several disqualified candidates had their apartments and campaign offices searched.
On Friday Navalny allies said police had also searched their campaign headquarters in the latest raids.
Independent candidates urged Russians to keep up the fight, saying the country’s trajectory was at stake.
“We are no longer talking about our mandates,” would-be candidate Dmitry Gudkov said.
“If we lose now, elections will cease to exist as a political instrument and the repressive machine will push the country towards 1937,” Gudkov said, referring to the peak of Joseph Stalin’s Great Terror.
Navalny was not allowed to run against Putin in a poll last year because of a conviction in a fraud case that has been viewed as punishment for his activism.
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