Obama - Putin at the G20: The Joke

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’Russia will be free’: Thousands march against Putin in Moscow

 

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’Putinization’ spreading in Europe, US group warns

By F. Brinley Bruton, msnbc.com

LONDON -- The leaders of Hungary and Ukraine are following in the footsteps of Russian President Vladimir Putin and imperiling the young democracies, U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House said in a report on Wednesday.

"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, under the pretext of so-called reforms, have been systematically breaking down critical checks and balances," Freedom House's president David Kramer said in a statement.

"They appear to be pursuing the 'Putinization' of their countries, which is ironic, given that in Russia itself Putinism has been largely discredited over the past year, as ordinary Russians increasingly seek guarantees of government accountability and transparency," he added. 

A wave of demonstrations have swept through Russia in recent months, with citizens protesting corruption and the Putin government's growing power.

On Wednesday, Russian lawmakers voted through a controversial bill that dramatically increases fines for those accused of participating in banned public protests. The bill was proposed in response to big public rallies against Putin's second term as president.

Hungary president quits in plagiarism scandal

The autocratic tendencies seen in the post-communist democracies pointed out in the Nations in Transit 2012 report risk taking root elsewhere among the European Union's newest members and aspiring members, Freedom House warned. Five other EU members in the region -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia -- also have seen a decline in democratic practices and traditions over the past five years, according to Freedom House.

Alexey Nikolsky /Ria Novosti /Pr / EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) talks to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (L) during their bilateral talks in Moscow, Russia, on May 15.

Hungary's anti-democratic lurch, made worse by the economic downturn, was deemed the worst in the region by Freedom House. 

The report cited a swift dismantling of democratic checks in Hungary, made easier by a weak opposition and the ruling supermajority in parliament. 

Huge rally in Prague against austerity measures, alleged corruption

"Hungary’s precipitous descent is the most glaring example among the newer European Union members," the report added. "Its deterioration over the past five years has affected institutions that form the bedrock of democratically accountable systems, including independent courts and media.  More >>

Putin's Evolving Strategy in Europe

Stratfor

By George Friedman

This week, Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a third term as Russian president. Putin's return to the presidency was not unexpected; he was never really unseated as Russia's leader, even during Dmitri Medvedev's presidency. But it comes as an anti-incumbent trend is developing in Europe, most recently demonstrated when socialist challenger Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in France's presidential elections this week. In response to these changes, Putin will have to adjust Russia's approach in Europe.

Putin's Plans for Russia and Beyond

Russia has been on the path to resurgence since Putin won the presidency in 1999. He inherited a broken, weak and chaotic Russia. As Stratfor has noted over the years, Putin did not seek to re-create the Soviet Union. He is a student of geopolitics, and he understands Russia's constraints and the overreaching that led to the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin's mission was to return Russia to stability and security -- a massive undertaking for the leader of a country that not only is the world's largest but also is internally diverse and surrounded by potentially hostile powers.

During his first presidential term, Putin launched a comprehensive series of reforms that recentralized power over the Russian regions, cracked down on militancy in the Russian Caucasus, purged the oligarch class and centralized the economy and political system. Putin implemented an autocratic regime and used the military and Russia's security apparatus (including the Federal Security Service), following the example of previous leaders, from the czars to the Soviet rulers. Putin's maneuvers were the natural evolution of how a successful leader rules Russia.

With Russia strong and steady, Putin was able to focus on his country's near abroad. However, the countries surrounding Russia were hostile to the Kremlin's view, with NATO and the European Union pushing ever closer to Russia's borders and forming partnerships with numerous former Soviet states. The czars and Soviet rulers used two primary tactics to counter such a situation.

The first tactic was to mobilize Russia's military to push out foreign influence, whether directly (as Moscow has done with Georgia) or indirectly (by forging military alliances with former Soviet states such as Belarus and Kazakhstan). Although Putin's Russia could do this for one or two countries, it could not use this tactic everywhere in its periphery.

The second tactic was to create alliances of convenience in Europe to help Moscow divide pan-European and NATO expansion and sentiment against Russia while bolstering Russia economically, financially and technologically. Czarist Russia made such arrangements with the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars and with France ahead of World War I, and Soviet leaders formed an alliance of convenience with Germany ahead of World War II. It is not that Russia ever trusted any of these countries (or vice versa), but the Russian and European leaderships shared an inherent understanding that certain alliances are necessary to shape the dynamics on the Continent.

During Putin's era, Russia set its sights on what it considered three of the four premier European powers: Germany, France and Italy. The Kremlin considers the United Kingdom the fourth main power, but London's firm and traditional alliance with the United States has made it resistant to Russia's overtures. The Kremlin saw Germany, France and Italy as the countries holding the economic, political and military heft that, if unified within Western alliance structures, could oppose Russia in Europe. In order to forge partnerships with these countries, Putin built relationships with their rulers.

Putin's Personal Approach

Germany was Russia's natural first choice for a partnership; not only is it the core of Europe, but it is also the European state that the Kremlin fears most. Moreover, Putin has an affinity for Germany that dates back to his days with the KGB, when he was stationed in Dresden, Germany. In the early 2000s, Putin was able to use his fluency in German to develop a strong friendship with then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Schroeder saw the relationship first as an economic opportunity, since Russia is the world's largest energy producer and exporter and also a place for potential heavy investment.

During Schroeder's chancellorship, trade between Germany and Russia boomed, and Russia gave Germany special benefits as an energy partner. Germany -- in accordance with Putin's plan -- began supporting Russia's position in Europe on specific strategic issues. Schroeder's Germany was alone among Western governments in not vociferously supporting Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004-2005. Schroeder also led European opposition to U.S. efforts to begin the NATO accession process for Ukraine and Georgia.

As his friendship with Putin grew, Schroeder purchased an estate outside Moscow near Putin's home and even sought Putin's assistance in adopting two Russian children. Schroeder's ejection from office in 2005 did not end their friendship -- or Schroeder's usefulness to Putin. Despite widespread German criticism, even from Schroeder's own party, the former chancellor accepted a position with Russian state natural gas firm Gazprom to lead the Nord Stream project, a pipeline designed specifically to maximize Russia's energy leverage over Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.

Having created a strong relationship with Berlin, Putin established a similar relationship with France's then-President Jacques Chirac. France's position is different from Germany's in that France is not connected economically or politically with Russia. However, Paris understands the history of strong Berlin-Moscow ties and what those mean for all of Europe. France thus has an interest in making sure it is not left out when Russia and Germany meet. The relationship between Chirac and Putin took this a step further.

At the beginning of their relationship, Putin and Chirac allied politically against the U.S.-led war in Iraq. This was important to Moscow because it undermined NATO's unity on a critical issue. More important for Russia's interests, Chirac lobbied against NATO's expansion to include the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltics were admitted despite Chirac's objections, and when the next NATO summit occurred -- in Latvia -- Chirac invited Putin to the meeting as his guest.

Putin was close friends with the French and German leaders, but he was like a brother to Italy's then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. This relationship was more personal, because Italy was not as strategic (or threatening) as the other two European powers. Putin and Berlusconi vacationed together, spent birthdays together and bought each other expensive gifts. In 2011, when Berlusconi was on trial for sexual improprieties, Putin publically defended his friend, saying the allegations were "made out of envy." The Putin-Berlusconi friendship led to relationships between Russian and Italian energy companies, banks and military industrial projects. Most notable, Putin was able to use his relationship with Berlusconi to get Gazprom access to Italian state-linked energy giant ENI's assets throughout North Africa, particularly in Libya.

Putin's personal connections with Germany, France and Italy did not change with the leadership shifts in each country from 2005 to 2007, nor did they change when Putin left the presidential spotlight to become prime minister in 2008. Putin used the momentum built under the previous governments to forge relationships -- even if not as personal -- with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and (for a time) Italy's then-Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Putin's circle of friends and associates helped him shape some of Russia's most important strategies in Europe: complicating NATO expansion, pushing Moscow's agenda with NATO, expanding military relationships and becoming capable of invading Georgia without European or NATO intervention. It is not that all of this was possible because of Putin's personal relationships with the leaders of Italy, France and Germany, but those connections facilitated many of the deals that made Russia's progress possible.

Changes Across Europe

As Putin returns to the presidency, he faces a very different Europe -- one in which nearly all of his close friends are out of power. As prime minister, Putin focused on Russia's internal issues while Europe became embroiled in a political and financial crisis that has affected the Continent as a whole. Europe is not as concerned as it once was with the wider world (including Russia). Instead, each state is focused on keeping itself -- and some form of the European alliance -- intact.

Voters have ejected two of the three Russian-friendly European governments during these crises. Berlusconi and his political machine were forced from power in favor of technocrat and now Prime Minister Mario Monti. Monti lacks the political mandate or the will to become involved in geopolitical alignments like a close relationship with Russia. France's Chirac has retired from politics, and Sarkozy was voted out of office the day before Putin was inaugurated. France's Hollande surrounds himself with politicians who have not been in government at any point when Putin was in charge in Russia. This leaves Merkel, whose ties with Putin are the weakest in the Russian leader's European circle. Furthermore, Merkel is concerned with holding Europe together, leaving little time or interest for Russia's plans for Europe.

Thus, Putin's tactic of using personal relationships to help strengthen Russia's position in Europe seems to be outdated. The French and Italian governments are still young, so Putin could try to build relationships with Hollande and Monti. But, like Germany, France and Italy are more interested in what is happening in Europe than in Russia.

This new attitude toward Russia already has surfaced in Rome. In the first talks between the new Italian government and the Russian government, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano made it clear that the Moscow-Rome relationship would undergo a "depersonalization." The first evidence of this was Italy's embrace of U.S. ballistic missile defense plans for Europe. Italy -- like France -- long supported Russia's position on missile defense in Europe. Although this did not prevent Washington from moving forward with its plans, it did create disagreements within NATO. Italy's shift toward unity with NATO and the United States comes just before what was to be a NATO-Russia summit in Chicago, but Russia has been disinvited.

The changes in Europe's leadership and focus come amid Russia's adjustments to other new dynamics in Europe. Before the Continent's financial and political crises, Russia had forged a new strategy for foreign policy regarding Europe in which strategic European partners -- especially Germany, France and Italy -- would invest heavily in Russia's economy and financial sector. With Europe nearly broke, however, this strategy has been cut back and could be abandoned altogether. Russia is proceeding with European partners on some projects, but Moscow must financially step up more than it anticipated for these projects to succeed. It is an expensive foreign policy choice.

Russia's main goal regarding Europe is to keep European powers divided while extracting what Moscow wants financially and technologically. The days have passed when Putin could call a friend in Europe to help with NATO or with technological deficiencies. Russia has to design a new strategy to deal with a very different Europe and adhere to its deeper imperatives rather than rely on personal and political relationships, which are fleeting compared to the forces of geopolitics. 

400 protesters arrested hours before Vladimir Putin’s return to Russian presidency

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The Kremlin Was Warned 20 Years Ago To Not Appoint Putin To Any Government Positions

The Russian government was warned 20 years ago not to appoint Vladimir Putin to "any other positions" because he was accused in a corruption scandal as a public official in St. Petersburg, The Telegraph reports.

Hundreds of scanned letters and papers to this effect were published on Facebook on Tuesday by friends of Marina Salye, a former member of St Petersburg city council who launched an inquiry into Putin's office in the early 1990s, and who died earlier this month at the age of 77.

Salye's documents suggest that Putin, then head of St Petersburg's committee for foreign relations, issued permits to Russian companies export raw materials abroad for meat, fruit, sugar, and other produce, because the city was facing severe food shortages. But although $100 million worth of goods were sent from Russia, no food was delivered in exchange.

Putin has always denied any wrongdoing.

The archive published online includes a letter from Russia's chief state inspector warning that Putin could be removed from his post in St Petersburg because of the alleged corruption, and telling the federal government not to appoint Putin "to any other positions" until the case was examined.

While the city council passed a resolution to sack Putin, St Petersburg’s mayor refused to do so. Instead, he promoted him to be his deputy, and no investigation was carried out. The rest, as they say, is history.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-warned-putin-st-petersburg-marina-salye-2012-3?utm_source=inpost&utm_medium=seealso&utm_term=&utm_content=1&utm_campaign=recirc#ixzz1r58fi0Iz

FROM GBTV: IS OBAMA SELLING OUT AMERICA TO RUSSIA?

Tiffany Gabbay

At worst, Russia has historically been America’s arch nemesis, at best, it has been the country’s ongoing strategic and ideological opponent. Yet, despite millennia of cultural contributions and “fundamentally transforming” since the fall of Communism, many wonder just how “free” a nation Russia really is.

Take into account the staggering number of members of the press who have been killed under the stewardship of past and incoming President Vladimir Putin. To date, the toll falls at over 40. In the words of Observer journalist Peter Preston: ”He [Putin] is elected time and again. Yet a free press seems to mean pitifully little to him. You investigate? You report? You die, unavenged.”  More >>

All the Pravda [Obama-Medvedev affair]

CFP/  Daniel Greenfield

For a man so in love with the technology of image, the camera, the microphone and the teleprompter, the leader of the increasingly less free world has a natural tendency to put a little too much faith in it. This is the second time that an open microphone has let Obama down, the first time it recorded him stabbing an ally in the back, the second time it recorded him stabbing a few dozen more in the back.

Medvedev, whose bosom buddy just managed to cling to power with a stolen election and brutal suppression of protests, surely understands how O feels. Photo ops with tigers and sunken treasures, not to mention skiing, martial arts and even rap, did not keep the Big P in smooth with the Russian public when the economy headed south.

Vladimir Putin didn’t have any racial guilt to ladle on the voters that might get them to overlook the mansions, the corruption and the abuses of power. But the average American voter, like the Russian voter, is more interested in the meat and potatoes, not to mention the gasoline, than in mystical allusions to the power of history. If Putin at times seemed bent on passing himself off as a new czar and Obama as a new savior, the crown and halo were shattered by the economy.

Putin’s had tightened control over Russia to an extent that the Obamas and the Warrens could only fondly dream of in their fondest federalist fantasies. And it’s easier to steal elections, when you don’t have to kowtow to a bunch of provincial interests and take the complaints of bible and gun owners seriously. But much like Putin and Ahmadinejad, Obama enjoys dim prospects in a straight election. And unlike them, he doesn’t have a military force that will turn up a few million ballots and send the protesters straight to the hospital, if not to the morgue.

Obama likes being a democrat, it’s just the democracy part that he doesn’t much care for

Obama likes being a democrat, it’s just the democracy part that he doesn’t much care for. And while his diplomacy is generally underwhelming, a mutual dislike of elections proved to be a popular bonding topic with Medvedev, the human face of the regime. But if Medvedev really thought that Obama was serious about needing more space because of an election, he hasn’t been paying much attention to American politics.

This is a White House that doesn’t pass laws to curry favor with the general voting population. That’s what publicity stunts and race cards and wars against women are for. In 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where Al Sharpton is an honored guest and policy is outsourced to whoever comes earliest and tosses the foam ball the best, policy isn’t made to soothe the savage electoral beast, it’s done to pay off buddies, soothe furious Muslims and implement whatever idea that a committee of unhinged leftists, Clinton veterans and friends from Chicago think is the way to go. 

If Obama is jettisoning Eastern Europe, it’s because he thinks it doesn’t matter. The sage wisdom is that the future is in the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. Russia is full of pale men and so is Eastern Europe. A man who thinks that there’s a language known as “Austrian” can’t exactly be expected to tell them apart or to care. Not when there are more exciting places to be, like Beijing of Dubai.

When it comes to Russia, Obama can’t see the point. When the Berlin Wall fell, Obama was busy completing the final leg of his prolonged education and adolescence while minoring in racial careerism. If he was even busy paying attention to people with funny names like Yeltsin or Gorbachev, it was while smoking blunts and laughing at how funny the syllables of their names sounded in his mouth.   More >>

Obama begs Medvedev for 'space' - caught on mic

Is Obama planning to let Russia help re-elect him to his 2nd Term

WND/ by Aaron Klein

What specifically was President Obama referring to when he told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” after the November election to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense?

In remarks caught on mic and later broadcast around the world, Obama asked Medvedev to tell incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin to give him more “space,” indicating missile issues can be resolved during a second term in office.

Obama made the remarks in a bilateral meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

Find out more about Barack Obama’s radical past in Aaron Klein’s “Red Army: The Radical Network that must be defeated to save America,” available at WND’s Superstore

Stated Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space.”

Medvedev replied: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you. …”

Obama then stated: “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”

Last year, Obama committed to reducing stocks of U.S. weapons-grade plutonium and signed an agreement that will lower the country’s deployed nuclear arsenals.

Obama’s “science czar,” John Holdren, long petitioned for the moves in a magazine whose personnel were used for the benefit of Soviet propaganda in an attempt to disarm America, according to a former top intelligence official during the Soviet era.

The magazine’s founders were accused of providing vital nuclear secrets that helped the Soviets develop an atomic bomb.

The magazine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has been urging the U.S. to surrender its nuclear arsenal to international control.

In April 2010, the U.S. and Russia signed a deal reducing stocks of weapons-grade plutonium, officials in both nations said at the time.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed a non-binding protocol to a 2000 agreement on eliminating excess weapons-grade plutonium from defense programs.

U.S. officials have said each country is to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium by burning it in reactors.

One week earlier, Medvedev and Obama signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, committing them to reducing their deployed nuclear arsenals.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with Holdren on the board of directors from 1984 until recently, has long petitioned for the U.S. to reduce its nuclear stockpiles. According to Pavel Sudoplatov, a former major-general in Soviet intelligence, this kind of work by the magazine editors was for the benefit of the Soviet Union.

Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and co-chairman of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists began publishing regularly in 1945, when it was founded by former physicists from the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb.

Two of the magazine’s founding sponsors, Leo Szilard and Robert Oppenheimer, were accused of passing information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviets. Both were also key initiators of the Manhattan Project.

In 1994, Sudoplatov, a former major-general in Soviet intelligence, identified Szilard and Oppenheimer as key sources of crucial atomic information to the Soviet Union.

“The most vital information for developing the first Soviet atomic bomb came from scientists engaged in the Manhattan Project to build the American atomic bomb – Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard,” wrote Sudoplatov.

Sudoplatov wrote the Soviet Union “received reports on the progress of the Manhattan Project from Oppenheimer and his friends in oral form, through comments and asides, and from documents transferred through clandestine methods with their full knowledge that the information they were sharing would be passed on.”

Oppenheimer was accused in Senate hearings of bringing communists into the Manhattan Project. He brought his brother Frank and three former graduate students into the project, all of whom, according to Senate hearings, were well known to him to be “members of the Communist Party or closely associated with activities of the Communist Party.”

Oppenheimer admitted he knew by August 1943 that two of the scientists working under him were Communist Party members. Three of five scientists under Oppenheimer’s direct supervision were accused of leaking secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviets.

On Oct. 25, 1945, Oppenheimer met with President Truman at the White House, urging him to surrender the U.S. nuclear monopoly to international control. Truman was outraged, reportedly telling Secretary of State Dean Acheson, “I don’t want to see that son-of-a-b*tch in this office ever again.”  More >>

More than 20,000 on Anti-Putin Rally in Moscow

Mass arrests as anti-govt protesters stage Moscow sit-in

Russia Spring: ‘iPads have replaced rifles,’ says blogger

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Teary-eyed Putin addresses 110,000 crowd near Kremlin

They get what they want: Putin wins, Communists 2nd

Preliminary results show Vladimir Putin securing 63.18 per cent of votes in Russia's presidential election, with his closest rival Gennady Zyuganov taking 17.33 per cent.

So far, the Central Election Commission has counted some 25 per cent of the ballots. Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Mikhail Prokhorov are waging a real political battle for third place, with both winning the support of roughly 7.35 per cent of voters. Sergey Mironov is running fifth, with some 3.67 per cent of votes cast.

Could Vladimir Putin be in power until 2024?

Reuters/ Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov, tycoon and independent candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, Nationalist Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and A Just Russia party leader Sergey Mironov will battle for the country's presidency on Sunday.

More than 100 million Russians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a president who will be in office for the next six years. Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson examines the potential outcomes -- and what's at stake.

What do the polls suggest will happen?

Most polls indicate it will be an outright victory for Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister and former president who has made a deal with his ally Dmitry Medvedev, the former prime minister and current president. Despite initial public outrage over their job swap, Putin is consistently polling at around 50 per cent – well ahead of the fragmented opposition.

And even if voters do not endorse Putin, his victory is likely to be assured with the help of regional officials loyal to his United Russia party. Having extended the presidential term of office from four to six years, Putin would remain in charge until 2018 – or 2024, if he won a second term. By then, Putin would have chalked up 24 years in power out of the 33 years since the collapse of Communism thanks to his previous terms as president and prime minister. If the outcome is such a certainty, why should the U.S. and other Western countries care?Experts agree the U.S. will find Russia harder to deal with on Putin’s return. On Wednesday, British think tank Chatham House warned that “Russia’s stability is at increased risk” due to Putin's determination to stay in power. “The overriding objective of Vladimir Putin and his team is to preserve the narrow and personalized ruling system that they have built over the past 12 years,” it said in a report. “Real change, necessarily involving accountability and devolution of power, would disrupt the system.

 

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But without real change, Russia cannot develop as effectively as it could, and the Putin system is vulnerable to shock.” Opposition leaders believe Russia at a crossroads in this election, according to NBC News correspondent Jim Maceda.“The choice is stark: six, perhaps 12, more years of an authoritative regime that is belligerent to critics ... and which sees the U.S. and its allies as Cold War rivals -- or a new, more democratic Russia that respects its neighbors and no longer snubs the West,” he said.

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 More >>

Putin soap opera: Plot to kill PM Vladimir Putin foiled

By msnbc.com staff and news services/

MOSCOW -- Russian and Ukrainian security services have foiled a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's state television reported Monday.

Pro-government Channel One said that the suspects were plotting to kill Putin in Moscow immediately after the March 4 presidential election, in which he is all but certain to reclaim the presidency.

The report, which did not quote any named security officials, said Ukrainian special services had detained two people in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa after an explosion at a rented apartment in which one person was killed.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the report to the ITAR-Tass news agency, but refused to make any further comment.

 More >>

Motorists protest against Putin on Moscow's streets

Sergei Karpukhin  /  REUTERS

A car drives with a flag showing a portrait of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a car rally to show support for Putin's presidential candidacy in Moscow on Saturday.

Hundreds of Russians protesting against Vladimir Putin drove through Moscow Sunday ahead of the March 4 presidential election expected to seal his grip on power.

Cars adorned with white ribbons and balloons, which have become the symbol of the largest protest movement against Putin's 12-year rule, moved bumper-to-bumper through the city, competing with a rally of his supporters hours earlier.

"There are a lot of people who do not agree with the current authorities," said Dmitry, 29, standing next to a red car tied with white ribbons. "We've come out to show ... that we don't agree (with the situation) and want other people to know how many of us there are."

The anti-Putin rallies began after a disputed election in December handed his United Russia party a slim parliamentary majority.

Putin was president from 2000-2008 when he was barred by the constitution from running for a third successive term but has remained in charge as Russia's prime minister. His re-election could see him stay in power until 2024.

A rally of his supporters Saturday night saw motorists with pictures of Putin and Russian flags stream along Moscow's main ring road. Police said there were 2,000 participants.

Putin's supporters say he led the country out of chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union and oversaw a rise in living standards during the oil-fuelled boom of his presidency.  More >>

"Real Russian patriots should stay at home and make babies... not loiter at demonstrations"

Stringer  /  Reuters

A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask takes part in a demonstration for fair elections in central Moscow Saturday.

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

Updated at 5:05 a.m. ET: Tens of thousands of people are now in downtown Moscow, The Associated Press reports, despite temperatures of minus 4 Fahrenheit. Banners and placards read "Russia Without Putin!" and "For Free Elections."

The AP says the rally appears to be bigger than one in December that organizers claimed attracted 120,000 people, which was the biggest demonstration in Russia since the protests 20 years ago that helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"So many of us have come that they can't arrest all of us," protester Alexander Zelensky, 56, tells the news service.

Original post: Thousands of people marched in Russian capital Moscow Saturday in a pro-democracy protest over the power of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to reports.

BBC News said people were taking part in the "For Honest Elections" rally despite expected temperatures as low as minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The main thing is for people not to catch pneumonia ... Three hours in the cold is a serious thing," Boris Nemtsov, a liberal politician and protest organizer, told the BBC.

"I have the feeling that every degree colder it gets, we lose 5,000 people," he added, according to Reuters.

The broadcaster said Kaluzhskaya Square was filling up with people midday Saturday. Many carried white balloons, the color adopted by the movement.

Anti-Putin protesters: Coping with big questions, bitter cold

Russia Today reported that organizers were expecting about 50,000 people to take part in the event, which it summed up with the headline "Frozen fury."

It said there were due to be rallies at Bolotnaya Square and Pushkinskaya Square.

Demand for election re-run Russia Today also said supporters of the pro-government Patriots of Russia movement were gathering on Poklonnaya Hill Saturday to "protest against the so-called Orange moods in the country and show people we have a lot to lose."

The color orange was used in neighboring Ukraine during anti-government political protests in 2004 and 2005.

Kremlin's photo-doctoring misfires big time

Russia Today reported Putin had voiced his support for them. "The people heading to Poklonnaya Hill are going there to state their sincere anti-Orange position. I am grateful to them and I share their views," he told Interfax news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had some different advice.

Europe tries to shield homeless from deadly freeze

"Real Russian patriots should stay at home and make babies... not loiter at demonstrations," he was quoted as saying by state RIA news agency.

Architect of Putin's System of Politics Is Reassigned

Vladislav Surkov [L] and Putin

msnbc.com

MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Tuesday announced the reassignment of Vladislav Y. Surkov, the "gray cardinal" who has overseen Russia's domestic political scene for more than a decade. The reassignment, made in the midst of a new protest movement against Vladimir V. Putin, Russia's paramount leader, suggested that Mr. Putin is prepared to make changes in the tightly controlled system that emerged during his first and second presidential terms.

Mr. Surkov, the deputy head of the president's administration, is considered the architect of the system under Mr. Putin and his protégé and successor as president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, which Mr. Surkov christened "sovereign democracy." He will now oversee modernization and innovation as a deputy prime minister, but will take no role in domestic politics. Russia's political system has come under unprecedented pressure this month from protesters who complain that elections offer them no alternative to Mr. Putin's rigid model. Former finance minister Aleksei L. Kudrin, who this month presented himself as a potential leader for disgruntled liberals, said the move affecting Mr. Surkov suggests "political reforms are going to continue."

"I consider him one of the designers of the system," Mr. Kudrin said in an interview with Kommersant-FM. "Now, the system is being reconsidered. Other organizers are needed, with other views on the political system."

Mr. Surkov, an advertising prodigy who was brought into government toward the end of the Yeltsin era, has argued for years that centralizing power in the Kremlin was a matter of survival after the 1990s. He acknowledged last year that "centralization has reached the limits of its capacity," but attempts to cultivate new parties were often discontinued if they showed signs of slipping out of Kremlin control.

Asked by a journalist on Tuesday why he was leaving, Mr. Surkov responded: "Stabilization devours its young." He went on to say that he had requested a reassignment. Asked whether he would take a role in settling down the protests, Mr. Surkov said no.

"I am too odious for this brave new world," he said, in a short interview with the Interfax news service. He then summed up his achievements at the reporter's request.

"I was among the people who helped President Yeltsin realize a peaceful transfer of power," he said. "I was among those who helped President Putin stabilize the political system. I was among those who helped President Medvedev liberalize it." More >>