MOSCOW — A protest rally against Vladimir Putin drew more than 20,000 people on Saturday, far fewer than those in past months as the opposition movement appears to be losing momentum following Putin’s presidential election victory.
Speeches by young activists like 27-year-old Maxim Kats, however, showed that some of the new political energy that has emerged in Russia in recent months is being channeled into local politics and civic activism.
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Kats and two others in their 20s, who just won seats on municipal councils, were among a number of speakers who called on Muscovites to get involved in how their city is run, starting with their own neighborhoods.
Putin, who was Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008 and then moved into the prime minister’s office to avoid a constitutional ban on more than two consecutive terms, won a third term in the March 4 election with 64 percent of the vote. Because of a change in the length of the presidential term, he is set to return to the Kremlin for six years and would be eligible to run for six more.
His decision to return to the presidency infuriated opposition activists who have grown tired of his heavy-handed rule. A December parliamentary election that was manipulated to bolster Putin’s party angered many ordinary Russians and swelled opposition ranks.
Protests held after December’s vote attracted up to 100,000 people in the largest show of discontent in Russia’s post-Soviet history. On Saturday, the smaller crowd, surrounded by hundreds of troops and security forces, chanted: “We are the power,” “This is our country” and “Putin is a thief.”
Although violations in the presidential election were numerous, observers said it was fairer than the parliamentary election and Putin clearly won.
The protesters said they did not recognize the results. “These weren’t elections. This isn’t a president,” read a banner over a stage set up on Novy Arbat, a wide avenue in central Moscow.
Opposition leader Garry Kasparov echoed that sentiment. “This was not an election,” Kasparov, a former world champion chess player, said from the stage. “This was a special operation run by a thug who wanted to return to the Kremlin.”
Actor Maksim Vitorgan, who was among thousands of people who volunteered to monitor the presidential vote, said he saw so many people casting multiple ballots, known as carousel voting, that “an amusement park would be envious.”
The volunteer vote monitors were one new burst of civic activism.
Another was the hundreds of people who ran for seats on Moscow’s 125 municipal councils March 4 as part of a new movement called Our City.
Kats, a former professional poker player, was among 71 who won seats despite what some candidates said was heavy official pressure to keep them off the ballot or steal their votes.
“If I did it, it means anyone can,” Kats told the crowd after describing how he had ignored advice to cut his hair, change his Jewish last name and wear a suit.
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