... impossible for workers to organize independent trade unions or hold strikes. “Trade unions have been deliberately weakened,” said Boris Kravchenko, president of the All-Russia Confederation of Labor, which organized the rally with the liberal Yabloko party and the social-democratic A Just Russia party. The attendees were diverse, with everyone from Yabloko activists to migrant workers to anarcho-syndicalists waving flags and chanting slogans such as “Power to the people!” But despite...

... on Tuesday ordered the camp at Chistiye Prudy closed in response to a lawsuit by residents of the area around the former camp who complained of inaction by authorities. (Related article: Court Orders Protest Camp Dismantled ) Leader of the liberal Yabloko party Sergei Mitrokhin called the police action illegal in a message on Twitter, saying he had filed an appeal of the Basmanny Court decision late Tuesday. 179742

... recent months, would increase fines on people who take part in illegal protests from 2,000 rubles to 1 million rubles ($65 to $32,400), and penalties on organizers would climb from 5,000 rubles to 1.5 million rubles. During a Duma debate on the bill, Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin held an unsanctioned protest with 50 activists outside the parliamentary building. Police detained him and five others, charged them with breaking the law by holding an illegal gathering, and released them, Interfax said...

... believers reject the country's court system and that attempts to prevent the creation of Sharia courts would end in bloodshed. "We will flood the city with blood," he told Ren-TV. His comments triggered a wave of heated criticism. The liberal Yabloko party called upon authorities to open a criminal case against Khasavov. Muslim clerics stressed that their believers respect the Constitution, which stipulated the separation of and state. Experts pointed out that, despite being unconstitutional...

... and walk around Red Square. Several hundred people showed up, waving white ribbons, the symbol of the opposition. The White DefilÎ participants then walked to the Arbat, where about 100 people were detained, Kommersant reported on its website. The Yabloko party, meanwhile, held a sanctioned rally near the Pushkinskaya metro station against a bill that would increase fines for illegal protests. A few party activists dressed in costumes resembling prison garb, Interfax reported. In St. Petersburg...

... road,” he said. Opposition political leaders have cast doubt on the efficacy of Putin's measure. Just Russia Duma Deputy Gennady Gudkov said the blue lights would inevitably multiply again, as they are strongly sought-after as a status symbol. Yabloko Party chairman Sergei Mitrokhin called for the blue lights to flash only on the cars of the country's four top figures: the president, the prime minister and the speakers of the two chambers of the parliament. “It just reduces a little the...

... where the Stalingrad memorial complex and Motherland Calls statue stand, Sergei Bozhenov, the recently installed governor of the Volgograd region, led proceedings, trailed by a snaking line of United Russia, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and Yabloko activists. 443080 179742

... was joined in the walkout by environmentalists Yevgenia Chirikova, Oleg Mitvol, blogger Marina Litvinovich, rally organizer Alyona Popova and A Just Russia Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov. They were followed later by opposition politicians Irina Khakamada, Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Gudkov complained that it was “wrong” that he wasn’t given the floor “as a participant, while...

... — a grievance that Kosheleva says is the coalition's next priority after the tobacco and alcohol laws. The political opposition seems keen to capitalize on the discontent. In addition to Gudkov, speakers on Saturday included Andrei Babushkin of Yabloko and Igor Bakirov, a young coordinator of the white ribbon movement, who showed up in an "Occupy Abai" T-shirt. "Putin and Medvedev are always going on about supporting small business. Do you like how they are supporting small business?"...

... were opposition leaders Udaltsov, Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, and Yevgenia Chirikova, as well as contingents of nationalist activists and activists from liberal and leftist political groups, including the Solidarity movement, the Communist Party, and the Yabloko party. But a shift in atmosphere was apparent in part from demonstrators’ signs, which bore fewer creative messages than at past opposition events. One man held a sign with the direct message: “There's no 3rd term in our constitution...

... detectors at the entrance to the march route. As at previous recent opposition events, a range of different political groups is on hand, including contingents of nationalists holding black and yellow imperial Russian flags and members of the liberal Yabloko party and of the Communist Party. 4:13 p.m., March Begins, Activists Carrying 50-Meter White Ribbon: The opposition march along Ulitsa Bolshaya Yakimanka has begun, with participants singing songs “from the war years,” Interfax reported...