The result of the Russian presidential election brought two months of euphoria to a shuddering halt. The expectation that Putin would return with a weaker mandate was crushed by his unexpectedly high 63% of support. And even allowing for massive fraud – a lot of it well documented – Putin emerged from this election stronger than many predicted. Most of even his staunchest critics concede that he probably obtained more than 50% of the vote even without the rigging. But while Putin is jubilant, the Russian opposition is more demoralised and disorientated than at any time since December. Between euphoria and depression, it is important to understand where Russia – its government and society – stands after this election. (via openDemocracy)
Snippets of news and comment from the EU and beyond
Ask me anything
Submit
March 16, 2012
Power and Weakness in Putin’s Russia
March 15, 2012
The Battle for Moscow: Russian Opposition at Odds over Path for Future - picture gallery
In the wake of the recent elections in Russia, opponents of newly elected President Vladimir Putin are struggling to find a common approach and viable new slogans. Some suggest that the best way to challenge Putin would be winning control of the Moscow city parliament and mayor’s office. (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)
March 12, 2012
Moscow, Russia
Riot police detain Left Front movement leader Sergei Udaltsov during a demonstration for fair elections. Thousands of people chanting “Time for change” challenged Vladimir Putin’s presidential election victory but far fewer turned out to protest against the Russian leader than in previous weeks. (via Reuters.com)
March 9, 2012
Russia: Anti-Putin activists plan Moscow street protest
Activists refusing to recognise the election of Vladimir Putin are seeking to keep up the post-election pressure with a mass protest on Saturday, but concede that the movement needs to move beyond the streets of Moscow.
Organisers hope to see at least 50,000 people turn out for the protest on New Arbat, one of the city’s main streets. But just over 5,000 people have signed up for the event on Facebook, while a post-election protest on Monday gathered 20,000 people, a fraction of those who attended protests in the lead-up to Russia’s presidential vote.
Although anger remains high at Putin’s re-election, in a vote that international observers say was marred by fraud and a lack of competition, there is a recognition among protest leaders that the movement must move beyond public rallies in its bid to challenge Russia’s frozen political system.
Putin won nearly 64% of the vote around the country, according to official figures, but he failed to break the 50% barrier in Moscow. Alexey Navalny, a popular opposition leader, has spoken of creating a “universal propaganda machine” to break the hold of state-run television in provincial Russia. (via The Guardian)
March 9, 2012
Putin hanging with his boyz lol
March 6, 2012
Protests over Russian presidential election results – in pictures
Thousands of people have taken to the streets to challenge Vladimir Putin’s victory in the country’s elections while others have gathered to celebrate the prime minister’s return to the presidency. Meanwhile an international team of observers have said the election was clearly skewed in Putin’s favour (via guardian.co.uk)
March 6, 2012
March 6, 2012
Moscow, Russia
A supporter of Vladimir Putin waves a Russian flag celebrating Putin’s victory in the presidential election (via guardian.co.uk)
March 5, 2012
Russia: Vladimir Putin Has Feelings, Presidential Win
Vladimir Putin tearfully claimed victory in the Russian presidential election, giving him another six years in charge. But he’ll have to face a fair number of fraud allegations and a growing protest movement that does not want to see a continued Putin presidency.
Protest leaders said Sunday’s election was unfair not only because of vote rigging but also because bureaucratic hurdles kept genuine opposition parties off the ballot. They had encouraged their followers to vote for any of Mr. Putin’s four Kremlin-approved rivals.
Putin has denied any fraud, and so far the Interior Ministry says they have not found voting irregularities that would suggest he had the election rigged. Overflowing with emotion, Putin proudly appeared before his public to celebrate the win.
We have won in an open and fair fight. We have shown that our people can easily tell apart the desire for novelty and renewal from political provocations that have only one goal in mind — to break up the Russian state and to usurp power.
(via Gawker)
March 4, 2012
Moscow, Russia
A flag for presidential campaign poster for Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hangs out of windows of a dwelling house. Russians will go to the polls for their presidential election on March 4. The flag reads “For Putin. And that’s all” (via Reuters.com)
RSS feed: http://euralmanac.tumblr.com/rss
1 of 7
Next page
-
Art of the Toilet Paper Roll by JUNIOR FRITZ JACQUETFrench artist Junior Fritz Jacquet has been fascinated by paper since a very young age....
-
Divisions by Zara Picken
-
On February 23 it was exactly three years to the day that Robert Csorba and his five-year-old son Robert Csorba Jr. lost...
-
(Reuters) - Laszlo Jaroka herds swine for a living in eastern Hungary, at the furthest edge of the...
-
The village of Galičnik, Macedonia.
-
Beautiful Timelapse of St Petersburg
-
Volovets, Ukraine.
-
Art for Wired charcoal illustration
