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The anti-Putin opposition in the Russian Federation is composed of various political parties, movements and groups of citizens, who oppose the policies of Vladimir Putin.
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Background and white-ribbon opposition
Most opposition organizations independent from the Kremlin encounter a restrictive law on political parties, refusals of registration by the Justice Ministry, censorship in major mass media, primarily federal TV channels. According to Vladimir Ryzhkov, "over the last 4 years (i.e. from 2007 - Ed.) for identical "formal reason" nine political parties were denied registration - from left to right. And not any new party was registered. In modern Russia, this is not possible".
Since 2012 for the protesters for fair elections the term white ribbon opposition has been applied, as they wore white ribbons as their symbol.
Actions and campaigns of the opposition
Current campaigns of the opposition:
In addition, smaller-scale series of actions are conducted. For example, in Moscow in the spring of 2012 saw a series of flash mobs "White Square", when protesters walked through the Red Square with white ribbons, in the late spring and summer, they organized the protest camp "Occupy Abay" and autumn they held weekly "Liberty walks" with the chains symbolizing solidarity with political prisoners.
A Monstration is a parody demonstration where participants gently poke fun at Kremlin policies.
Participation in elections
Some opposition figures, for example, Garry Kasparov, said there are no elections in Putin's Russia, and that participation in a procedure called elections only legitimizes the regime.
On the other hand, a small part of liberals (the party of "Democratic Choice") consider elections as the main tool to achieve their political goals. The system opposition also supports participation in elections.
Protests against election fraud
Starting from 5 December 2011, the day after the elections to the State Duma, there have been repeated massive political actions of Russian citizens who disagree with the outcome of these "elections". The current surge of mass opposition rallies has been called in some publications "a snow revolution". These rallies continued during the campaign for the election of the President of Russia and after March 4, 2012 presidential election, in which Putin officially won the first round. The protesters claimed that the elections were accompanied by violations of the election legislation and widespread fraud. One of the main slogans of the majority of actions was "For Fair Elections!" and a white ribbon has been chosen as symbol of protests. Beginning from spring 2012 the actions were called marches of millions and took the form of a march followed by a rally. The speeches of participants were anti-Putin and anti-government.
The "March of Millions" on 6 May 2012 at the approach to Bolotnaya Square was dispersed by the police. In the Bolotnaya square case 17 people are accused of committing violence against police (12 of them are in jail). A large number of human rights defenders and community leaders have declared the detainees innocent and the police responsible for the clashes.
For the rally on December 15, 2012, the anniversary of the mass protests against rigged elections, the organizers failed to agree with the authorities, and participation was low. Several thousand people gathered without placards on Lubyanka Square and laid flowers at the Solovetsky Stone.
March for Peace
In 2014, members of the Russian opposition have held anti-war protests in opposition to Russian military intervention in Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and Crimean crisis. The March of Peace protests took place in Moscow on March 15, a day before the Crimean referendum. The protests have been the largest in Russia since the 2011 protests. Reuters reported that 30,000 people participated in the March 15 anti-war rally.