Putin officially registered on Wednesday to run for the presidency in March, but the unusually sustained protests of the past two days showed the indignation of the Russian opposition and suggested his drive to retake the job he held from 2000-2008 may not go as smoothly as expected.
The thousands of Russians who rallied in Moscow and St. Petersburg faced off with police and Interior Ministry troops, who detained hundreds of protesters, including journalists.
The Russian Union of Journalists on Wednesday condemned police violence and called for a probe into the dozens of attacks and arrests of journalists, describing them as “an attempt to gag and intimidate society.”
More opposition rallies were expected Wednesday, along with a pro-Putin gathering in central Moscow that had attracted a few hundred people so far.
Sunday’s parliamentary vote suggested Russians are tiring of Putin and his United Russia party, which has strongly overshadowed all other political forces in Russia for the past dozen years and earned a reputation for corruption.
Preliminary results indicate the party won less than 50 percent of votes, a steep fall from its earlier majority. Opposition parties and international observers said the poll was marred by widespread reports and allegations of vote-rigging.
The allegations have fired up the opposition, which has long seen its protests crushed and its pleas ignored by the Kremlin-dominated media. On Facebook, more than 10,000 people signed up to a page announcing an opposition rally for Saturday.
Authorities said Tuesday that at least 51,500 police officers and 2,000 Interior Ministry troops have been deployed in Moscow since the election. Unlike the police, Interior Ministry troops are an armed force, largely manned by conscripts.
On Wednesday, Muscovites spotted dozens of helicopters patrolling the city — a rare sight in the capital.
At least 300 people were detained by police at a protest in downtown Moscow on Tuesday night that included flare-type fireworks thrown at a group of pro-Kremlin youth, said city police spokesman Maxim Kolosvetov.
Russian news agencies reported about 200 were arrested at a similar attempt to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg and another 25 in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Moscow protest ended after around 3 1/2 hours and the others were broken up by police.
Pro-Kremlin supporters put on a pair of large rallies in Moscow, attracting thousands and showing vehement divisions in Russian society. Protesters and government supporters shouted at each other, with the opposition chanting “Shame, shame” and the others, some of whom beat drums, yelling out “Putin victory.”
Putin has downplayed the reduced majority, saying it was “inevitable” because voters always are unhappy with the party in power. He also dismissed allegations of corruption among his United Russia party members.
He also rejected the popular characterization of United Russia as “the party of crooks and thieves,” saying corruption was a widespread problem not limited to a single party.
