Nominally, anti-corruption, the corruption Alexsei Navalny and supporters protested was Putin's. The protests were the largest since 2011. The ensuing crackdown and Alexsei's subsequent arrest and conviction--I am astonished that he was able to pull this off.--make these protests all the more unexpected. From The New York Times:
Protesters tried to prevent a police van from taking Mr. Navalny away and chanted: “This is our city. This is our city.” Others shouted, “Russia without Putin,” and held up pieces of paper denouncing the Russian president and his allies as thieves.
...
Dmitri Charishnikov, a 36-year-old web designer who answered Mr. Navalny’s call to walk up and down Tverskaya Street, said protests would change nothing as most Russians “believe what they see on television” and strongly support Mr. Putin. But he added that he still wanted to show that “another Russia still exists.”
...
State television, the main source of news for most Russians, responded to the protests by ignoring them.
I did not think this could happen. Is it the start, or restart, of something? Are more protests reasonably possible? I think the answer to the first question is, as Mr Charishnikov said, this "other Russia still exists," it never went away, it just went underground. That protests happened in 99 cities, my God, that's all across the damn country. But the start or restart of what? Anti-Putin protests? That's gets the second question. How Putin and his secret police missed this today is inexplicable. About 1,000 protesters were arrested in Moscow alone. However he missed it, Putin has now got 1,000 off the streets, and he's got Alexsei Navalny under arrest again, too. Betcha he changes Aleksei's social media username and password, betcha, hoo doggie! The answer to the second question is, "Nyet."
Protesters tried to prevent a police van from taking Mr. Navalny away and chanted: “This is our city. This is our city.” Others shouted, “Russia without Putin,” and held up pieces of paper denouncing the Russian president and his allies as thieves.
...
Dmitri Charishnikov, a 36-year-old web designer who answered Mr. Navalny’s call to walk up and down Tverskaya Street, said protests would change nothing as most Russians “believe what they see on television” and strongly support Mr. Putin. But he added that he still wanted to show that “another Russia still exists.”
...
State television, the main source of news for most Russians, responded to the protests by ignoring them.
I did not think this could happen. Is it the start, or restart, of something? Are more protests reasonably possible? I think the answer to the first question is, as Mr Charishnikov said, this "other Russia still exists," it never went away, it just went underground. That protests happened in 99 cities, my God, that's all across the damn country. But the start or restart of what? Anti-Putin protests? That's gets the second question. How Putin and his secret police missed this today is inexplicable. About 1,000 protesters were arrested in Moscow alone. However he missed it, Putin has now got 1,000 off the streets, and he's got Alexsei Navalny under arrest again, too. Betcha he changes Aleksei's social media username and password, betcha, hoo doggie! The answer to the second question is, "Nyet."
