The Novaya Gazeta interview with Yavlinsky...

...is mostly about Russia's perilous position internationally and the perceived "dead-end" that Putin has led it into, which present the country with an existential threat. He blames Putin for "aggressive ambition, relying on hidden and open blackmail, unpredictability, placing oneself in opposition to a group of the most powerful and influential political and economic forces of the modern world."

Since the West has concluded that it cannot influence Russia's leadership, he says, it has instead decided to isolate Russia as much as possible, considering Russia a serious threat.

Navalny and Gudkov have reportedly agreed to monitor the election jointly.

'Paradoxical' Election To Usher In 'New Period'?

Independent journalist Oleg Kashin cites a "paradoxical" atmosphere in Russia ahead of an election that is at once seen as a foregone conclusion with a known outcome but that is also imbued with the feeling of an ending era.

"It seems indisputable that this is not forever and that a new period is truly somewhere really close," Kashin writes in a piece for Republic on January 31.

Sobchak registers

The presidential campaign of Russian journalist and television personality Ksenia Sobchak says she has submitted the required signatures to register for the March 18 ballot.

Sobchak's campaign website said on January 31 that the signatures have been handed over to the Central Election Commission (CEC). It said the campaign had collected a total of 140,201 signatures. In order for her to make the ballot, the CEC must check the signatures and ensure that at least 100,000 of them are valid.

Sochak is the daughter of Putin's political mentor, the late St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. She says a vote for her would be a protest against the current government, though her candidacy is widely seen as having the blessing of the Kremlin. Sochak has publicly sparred with barred opposition leader Aleksei Navalny over her presidential run. Navalny has said her participation lends an air of legitimacy to a rigged electoral process.

Sobchak's campaign said the CEC would be examining the signatures over the next 10 days. She said she sees "no reason why I wouldn't be registered."

Putin said to be burning through campaign funds

Sobesednik newspaper takes a look at the opaque support foundations that appear to be financing President Putin's reelection campaign. Sobesednik also totes up the publicly visible expenses his campaign has clocked up so far and estimates they alone should cost over 1 billion rubles -- 2.5 times more than the legal amount presidential candidates may blow on the campaign trail. And there's still a long way to go till March 18.

Huge banner in Krasnodar alleges bluntly that "Putin is a coward, a thief, a murderer! People, wake up!"

Yekaterinburg's mayor speaks his mind

The mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city has been known for not toeing the party line since he was first elected in 2013, defeating the candidate of the dominant ruling United Russia party.

This year is no exception for Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, who is supporting barred candidate Navalny's calls for a boycott of the vote.

Roizman is also said to be trying to figure out his own political future, saying that there is legislation pending that would end direct election of the city’s mayor.

Russian Polling Place In Pyongyang

Russians can vote in one of the most repressive countries in the world: North Korea.

Once stalwart communist allies, ties between Pyongyang and Moscow withered after the Soviet collapse. But the two countries maintain diplomatic relations, and some limited economic interaction. And Pyongyang has been in the news a lot lately over its nuclear weapons program and heated public standoff with the United States.

Navalny Media Aide Given Eight-Day Sentence Over Election-Boycott Protest

By RFE/RL's Russian Service

A Moscow court has sentenced a prominent associate of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to eight days in jail on charges of participating in an illegal demonstration.

Ruslan Shaveddinov, who hosts video programs on Navalny's YouTube channel, was pronounced guilty and sentenced on January 31, one day after he and Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, were detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

The court's ruling stressed that Shaveddinov's violations were committed "with the goal of forming a negative image of one of the registered candidates" for the March 18 presidential election, evidently referring to incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

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The Turnout Watch

State pollster VTsIOM now says that 71 percent of Russians intend to take part in the elections, surpassing an important benchmark for the Kremlin, which is thought to be aiming for 70-percent turnout. In December, the independent Levada Center had been forecasting record low turnout of 52-54 percent. (It's hard to motivate people to vote at an election that is a foregone conclusion.) Navalny has since begun campaigning for an election boycott. It is possible that Grudinin and Sobchak, new faces in the running, may have injected some interest.

Here is the polling data from VTsIOM. Bear in mind it is a state pollster. Levada now cannot publish election data because of its "foreign agent" status.