- By Andy Heil
Putin Critic Fined, But Pledges More Protest Art
Our Russian Service interviewed an activist and Putin critic who plans to continue his protest actions despite a 10,000-ruble fine from a Moscow court on February 19 for a piece of performance art that he called "Doodle." Viktor Pashin was detained by police at Lubyanka Square, the headquarters of the former KGB and its successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB), on February 18 while marching around in a zorb emblazoned with "Putin" on it and balloons that said "enough" and "rot" floating above him. He said it was a criticism of the "cheating" and oligarchic elite that victimize average citizens.
He also vows to act within the law and says, "I hope I won't be detained."
Here's RFE's clip of the protest:
Moscow reportedly plans to spend 50 million rubles ($883,500) to direct voters toward polling places and festoon and otherwise decorate the voting stations, says Vedomosti. (In Russian)
Current Time TV visited a dog breeder who is frustrated that she can't vote for her preferred candidate, barred opposition leader Navalny. It's in Russian.
- By Carl Schreck
The Battle Over Turnout
Navalny deputy Volkov says they've tracked more than 100 cases of "illegal" attempts to raise turnout, including selfie contests.
Former world tennis No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov appears to be backing the election boycott.
- By Mike Eckel
Russian Balloting In U.S., Too (But Only At Diplomatic Missions)
Times being what they are, it was unclear how Russian citizens who are living in the United States and who wanted to participate in next month's presidential election would be able to do so. One Russian newspaper reported last month that efforts to set up provisional polling places in places like a hotel in Los Angeles had been thwarted by expat Russians who consider the vote to be sham.
But the Russian Embassy in Washington announced on February 21 that in fact there will be places for Russians to cast ballots on March 18. The catch is, they'll only be at Russian diplomatic facilities. Aside from the embassy, that will only include the consulates in Seattle, Houston, and New York. (Russia used to have another facility in San Francisco, but that was ordered closed last year amid spiraling tensions between Washington and Moscow).
Navalny's advice on living right
This election meme features a portrait of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and a fake quote on a life well-lived.
"Live your life such that dictators are afraid to pronounce your name and snowdrifts disappear in its presence." A. A. Navalny
Crime And Punishment
The Golos independent election-monitoring group noticed a sharp decline in state television's coverage of Ksenia Sobcak in the week after she filed an unsuccessful suit asking the Supreme Court to annul the candidacy of incumbent President Vladimir Putin. In the course of a week, her coverage fell by 11 percentage points during the week from February 12 to 18.
Strangely, coverage of Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin shot up massively, surpassing even that of Putin. However, Golos noted, 75 percent of that coverage was negative, the highest level of negative coverage yet recorded in the campaign.
Also curious, overall coverage of the election is on the decline, even though less than one month remains before the vote. Almost all the state-controlled and Kremlin-friendly channels showed a measurable reduction in coverage compared to the previous week. Only REN-TV showed an increase, a change that was almost entirely accounted for by a spike in negative coverage of Grudinin.
A lot of charts and analysis to be found in this report for election/media junkies.
State Duma Taking A Break Until Election
The Russian business daily Vedomosti is reporting that the State Duma will be taking a break from February 23 to March 18, the day of the presidential election.
Members of the State Duma, Vedomosti explains, are expected to use the time not to campaign for a candidate but to urge voters to turn out for the poll.
Numerous reports suggest the Kremlin wants a high turnout to make Putin's highly expected win all the more impressive. Sources also told Vedomosti that the pause was designed to not "interrupt," or distract from, the presidential campaign.
Youths For Putin? On The Public Dime?
The Golos independent election monitor has issued a new report documenting how state-organized and -supported youth groups -- particularly, the Volunteers Of Victory -- are acting to support incumbent President Putin in violation of election laws.
Volunteers of Victory gathered many of the signatures required to register Putin's candidacy despite getting "significant financial and other material state support," seemingly a violation of election law.
"In the regions, the Volunteers of Victory are made up primarily on the basis of state organizations, including public schools and other organizations getting state support, where their coordinators receive salaries," the report says. "De facto, the necessary infrastructure for the functioning of these organizations, including salaries and office space, is being provided at state expense."
Golos documented the activity of Volunteers of Victory in at least 40 Russian regions, noting that in many cases the official coordinators of this organization are regional or local officials or managers of state enterprises.
There are many other conclusions and revelations in the report (in Russian).