Putin foes mount protests across Russia ahead of vote

Bloomberg

Hundreds of Russians braved sub-zero temperatures to protest against President Vladimir Putin, who’s seeking to prolong his almost two-decade-long rule in March elections.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who’s been barred from taking part in the March 18 vote, called on his supporters to rally in more than 100 cities in a bid to put more pressure on the Kremlin after a series of mass protests last year.
About forty people were detained in cities in eastern and central Russia by midday Sunday in Moscow, according to OVD-Info, a monitoring group. Protests in the capital were set for 2 pm.
After authorities refused to register his candidacy in the election, Navalny has called on supporters to boycott the vote. “It’s absolutely clear that the most important thing that any person can do now is to go and protest,” Navalny, 41, said on his blog ahead of the demonstration. “Because that’s the only path open to us in Russia, where we’re kept out of elections and the media and you can’t win in court.”
While Putin, 65, is assured of victory with popularity ratings of more than 80 percent, his most prominent opponent is counting on dissatisfaction at stagnant growth and living standards after the longest recession this century has fuelled the protest mood.
But since two rallies in March and June 2017 attracted tens of thousands of people in up to 100 cities across Russia, enthusiasm has waned somewhat. The cold weather, with temperatures of minus 7 Celsius (19 Fahrenheit) in Moscow, along with the heavy police presence, may deter some people. In Yakutsk in Siberia, a handful of supporters braved temperatures of minus 45 Celsius to protest. In Barnaul, where it was minus 24, about 100-150 people turned out for a peaceful protest, Tass quoted local police as saying.
In Moscow, police detained the head of Navalny’s local campaign staff, his spokeswoman reported on Twitter. Officers also arrived at the offices of his Anti-Corruption Foundation, using power tools to cut through the door where supporters were conducting a live YouTube broadcast, Navalny said on a broadcast from a backup
studio later.
“My home is surrounded by police,” Navalny said, before going on to give his current location as the building where Putin is reportedly formally registered in Moscow. The crackdowns in the capital and other cities “only add to our determination to turn out for the demonstrations.”
In Moscow and the second-largest city, St. Petersburg, officials refused permission for the rallies, and a senior police commander, Alexander Gorovoi, vowed to deal “harshly” with violators of the law. Riot police were out in force in downtown Moscow hours before the scheduled start of the rally
on Sunday.
The authorities have waged a crackdown on Navalny, while avoiding making him a martyr by putting him behind bars for more than about a month at a time. Police have raided his campaign
offices and jailed activists.