Ballot Deja Vu

Some Russians continue to mock the sample election ballot that was released earlier this week. Many have noted that the ballot design seems to favor President Putin by placing him squarely in the center surrounded by blank space where his biography should go. The other candidates, conveniently three above Putin (plus the instructions) and four below him, all have dense paragraphs of biographic information.

One Twitter wag compared the ballot design to one used in Germany in 1938, writing: "I have to admit there are still differences, but they are trying."

Symbolic Numbers

Twelve supporters of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny in the Siberian city of Tomsk have collectively been given an extraordinarily large fine of 282,000 rubles ($4,850).

RFE/RL's Russian Service reports that the activists were fined during court hearings on February 7 and 8.

"The figure 282 is a symbolic sum, since that is the number of the Criminal Code article for extremism," local Navalny coordinator Ksenia Fadeyeva told RFE/RL.

She said they plan to appeal the fines, which were handed down for their role in organizing and participating in a national January 28 rally that Navalny called to urge Russians to boycott the presidential election.

On February 8, four Navalny activists in the Bashkortostan capital Ufa were fined a total of 195,000 rubles ($3,350) for participating in the same event.

On February 9, Navalny's local offices in Novosibirsk and Vladivostok reported they had been visited by police. In Novosibirsk, police confiscated new leaflets, while in Vladivostok, police officers stopped a Navalny activist on the street and forcibly took away his office keys. However, they were unable to unlock the door and left without stating their business.

Police in Novokuznetsk have been given instructions to guard posters and billboards depicting President Vladimir Putin from vandalism in the run-up to the March 18 presidential election. Police in Syktyvkar have received the same orders.

RFE/RL's Russian Service reports:

В Новокузнецке полиция получила приказ охранять баннеры с Путиным

В Новокузнецке в преддверии выборов президента России сотрудникам полиции было поручено охранять плакаты с изображением действующего главы государства Владимира Путина. Об сообщает сайт "Сибирь.Реалии" со ссылкой на источник в полиции города.

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Ready To Rally

Russian President Vladimir Putin's campaign is planning a large rally in support of the incumbent ahead of the March 18 poll, according to a February 9 report by RBK, which cited one source as saying there could be some 100,000 people at the event.

There have been numerous reports over the past decade of demonstrators being pressured by employers -- especially state-sector employers -- or being paid to show up at pro-Kremlin rallies

A demonstration ahead of Putin's 2012 election was estimated by authorities -- whom critics accuse of overstating crowd sizes of pro-government rallies -- to have attracted more than 130,000 people.

A correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service was promised 500 rubles ($16 at the time) to attend and was driven to the event by bus with others who were given pro-Putin placards to hold.

With the outcome of this year's election basically preordained, analysts say the Kremlin is trying to boost turnout and undertake other efforts to demonstrate that Putin has a broad mandate from the Russian public.

Sobchak Says Russian Election Meddling 'Unacceptable'

Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak says it appears that Moscow meddled in the U.S. presidential election in 2016, and called any such interference "unacceptable."

Sobchak, who has raised eyebrows by making a lengthy trip to the United States weeks ahead of the March 18 election in Russia, spoke in an interview with CNN that was broadcast on February 8.

"It sounds [like] we really had something to do with it. If that's so, I want to say sorry," Sobchak told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

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Standing Alone

Chemist Igor Prosanov greeted President Vladimir Putin during a campaign stop in Novosibirsk on February 8 with a one-man protest wearing a vest emblazoned with the slogan: "Putin Is Russia's Misfortune."

"Within 15 minutes, a police colonel came up and spoke with him," a local newspaper wrote. "After the officer left, two men in plain clothes came up to the picketer and hustled him into a civilian car."

On February 9, the newspaper got a letter from the regional election commission saying that Prosanov's vest had been declared illegal campaign material because it "formed a negative impression of presidential candidate V.V. Putin." Publishing the photograph, the letter warned, could be prosecuted as illegal campaigning. So the publication blurred out the last few letters of Putin's name in the photo for their article.

'Within The Framework Of The Law'

If you repeat something enough, people will believe it. The cheeky website Meduza has this mashup of Putin saying that everything must be done "within the framework of the law" about a million times over the course of his long rule. Enjoy.

Sobchak Says She's Sorry

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied accusations that Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, liberal presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak says she thinks Russia might have done it -- and if so, she's "sorry."

Sobchak made the comments in an interview with CNN that aired on February 8.

"It sounds we really had something to do with it. If that's so, I want to say sorry," she told Christiane Amanpour, adding that meddling in the affairs of another nation is "unacceptable."

Sobchak has been making the rounds in Washington this week to discuss her candidacy, which she calls a protest option for voters who oppose the current political system.

Approached by a journalist from the U.S. entertainment tabloid site TMZ while in Washington, the former socialite rejected frequent references to her in the media as Russia's Paris Hilton.

"I am a political journalist in Russia for more than 10 years. I don't know who invented this about Paris Hilton, but really, it has nothing to do with me," she said.

Golos Election Monitor Detained In Krasnodar

Novaya Gazeta reported that David Kankiya, a local coordinator for the Golos election-monitoring NGO, was detained on February 9 without explanation in Krasnodar.

The local head of the Yabloko party said he believes Kankiya was detained to prevent Golos from organizing independent election monitoring.

RFE/RL's Russian Service report is here.

Political analyst Aleksandr Kynev wrote on Facebook that the activist was detained so that he couldn't "prevent the authorities from inflating the turnout -- something that is systematically and regularly done in Krasnodar."

Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny agreed, writing on his blog that Krasnodar Krai is the third-largest subject of the federation in terms of eligible voters and "the first in terms of turnout falsification."

"That is why we plan to make special efforts to organize monitoring of the turnout in Krasnodar Krai, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Kemerovo Oblast, and Saratov Oblast," Navalny wrote. "In each of these regions we have very strong teams and almost every day we are holding training sessions for election monitors."

Sobchak Against The Boycott

On February 8, candidate Ksenia Sobchak posted on her Ekho Moskvy blog her case against opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's call for an election boycott.

She argues that a boycott only helps the authorities, saying that if democratically minded people stay home, the percentage of votes for President Vladimir Putin will only increase. "The authorities will act in the future based on this [outcome], tightening the screws further and all the time saying they have 'national support,'" Sobchak wrote.

On the contrary, she says that if liberals can boost the turnout, there is a chance Putin will get less than 50 percent and force a second round of voting.

Navalny, who was disqualified from running because of an embezzlement conviction that he says was politically motivated, has argued that the election is a sham, calling it "the reappointment of Putin."