This time, the Russian authorities were prepared, organizing a simultaneous, and also huge, rally in defense of Mr. Putin. Speakers there issued dire warnings of the possible consequences of continued protest: revolution and the breakup of the country.
The sun was a remote white disk above the horizon, and the temperature was measured at minus 4. Demonstrators, swaddled in fur hats and parkas, hopped to keep their feet from freezing.
By the end of the frigid day, it appeared that antigovernment demonstrations had not lost momentum and could continue into the spring. If they do, they will pose an unexpected challenge to Mr. Putin, who has never faced sustained public opposition in his 12 years as the country’s paramount leader.
“It’s clear nothing will change, but at least we can demonstrate — six months ago nobody could have imagined it in Moscow,” said Marina V. Segupova, 28, an interior decorator who was wearing a scarf encrusted with white from her frozen breath. “We want the military and the police to come over to our side. We will show our good will; we will show that we’re kind.”
“We are a snowball,” she said, “and we are rolling.”
The city’s authorities said the antigovernment crowd on Saturday was larger than at either of the two similar rallies in December, and they estimated that about 36,000 people where there. Organizers gave an estimate of 120,000.
With precisely a month left before presidential elections, polls show that Mr. Putin, who is currently prime minister, is far ahead of his four rivals in the race, and has a good chance of breaking the 50 percent barrier to win in a first round. If he falls short of that, he would be almost certain to win in a second round three weeks later, though the process would cast doubt on the strength of his public mandate.
The protest movement, meanwhile, has not coalesced into a coherent political force. It lacks leaders willing or able to challenge Mr. Putin, still by far the country’s most popular politician. Maksim Trudolyubov, the editorial editor of Vedomosti, a daily newspaper, said the protests’ major impact was to broadcast a message that Mr. Putin could not continue to rule in the same highly centralized style.
“We are standing at a really important threshold for this country,” Mr. Trudolyubov said in an interview. “Right now, if nothing extraordinary happens — a black swan, or something — he is of course the president in March. But in March, he will be a very different president, a president with a different level of legitimacy.”
This series of demonstrations was set off by parliamentary elections on Dec. 4, which were widely condemned as fraudulent. Many participants say, though, that the upwelling of anger dates to September, when Mr. Putin revealed his plans to return to the presidency in the spring, replacing his protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The announcement was meant to buoy the mood in the electorate, but had the opposite effect, especially among urban, middle-class voters who are yearning for a competitive political system. Mr. Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008 and can legally serve two more terms.
Top officials were initially silent about the December protests, but on Saturday the government had taken an assertive approach, organizing pro-government demonstrations in several large cities as a counterweight.
The police said the pro-government rally in Moscow drew 138,000 people, though journalists there said the number was greatly exaggerated. The nightly news featured the event as its lead story.
Speakers condemned the antigovernment protesters, who were referred to at different points as “traitors” and “Bolotnaya snot,” after their gathering place at Bolotnaya Square. Participants carried signs reading “We don’t need an Arab Spring!” and “No to Orange Revolutions,” a reference to the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which is widely seen here as orchestrated by the United States.
One speaker singled out the new American ambassador, Michael A. McFaul, who has been accused of coming to Russia to touch off a revolution.
Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/world/europe/tens-of-thousands-protest-putin-in-moscow-russia.html?_r=1
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