... after the opposition occupied the area around his statue at Chistiye Prudy this week, Qunanbayuli has become the symbol of a round-the-clock protest there. Qunanbayuli, whose name reads in the Russian spelling as Kunanbayev, was "a great Kazakh poet," according to a brief inscription on the monument. After the police finally allowed the opposition activists to settle around the monument, he also has practically become a new opposition leader — especially given that two other leaders...

Officially it was called a Test Walk With Poets and Writers. Although, I already have to back down from that. As novelist Boris Akunin stated on Dozhd television Sunday night, nothing in this May 13 march from Pushkin Square to Chistiye Prudy was organized....

... Levanov wrote an episodic play that explores several of Ksenia's encounters with people from various social ranks, including a pack of cruel children, an arrogant priest and his pompous wife, a prostitute who had been Andrei's favorite, a self-destructive poet, another "holy" woman and others. Every meeting reveals one or another aspect of Ksenia's ability to exhibit love for others, no matter what their attitude to her. This is not, however, a religious play, and Shumilkina's production makes...

... unsanctioned Test March, which doubled as a book-signing event for many. “It’s great that the protest movement is taking various forms and genres, that it’s changing and mutating but isn’t dying down,” said Rubinshtein, a poet. “The fact that so many people showed up is also evidence that literature still carries some weight in our society.” The event was called the Test March to see whether anti-Kremlin activists could walk around freely. Last week, people...

What writers wrought Sunday in Moscow, bringing out thousands of readers to participate in a friendly and festive march, was an astonishing turnaround in a wild and often dangerous week. Officially it was called a "Test Walk With Poets and Writers." Although I already have to back down from that. As novelist Boris Akunin stated on Dozhd television Sunday night, nothing in this May 13 march from Pushkin Square to Chistiye Prudy was organized. "It happened on its own,"...

... encampments at Arbat and Kudrinskaya Ploshchad. Around 50 demonstrators were reportedly detained overnight from Sunday to Monday at two opposition encampments at Arbat and Kudrinskaya Ploshchad. Around 10 people were arrested at a camp near a statue of poet Bulat Okudzhava on Arbat, according to witnesses, Ekho Moskvy reported Monday. Another 40 protesters were detained by police at Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, art group Voina wrote on its Twitter account early Monday. A few dozen people remained at the site...

... one-man concert performance. Satirikon Theater. 7 p.m. MT Pick Pushkin. Duel. Death. (Pushkin. Duel. Smert.): Kama Ginkas’ powerful staging, based on the memoirs of Pushkin’s contemporaries, is a brilliant examination of the way in which poets are misunderstood by those closest to them. Theater Yunogo Zritelya. 7 p.m. The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovy Sad): Anton Chekhov’s play about a family being overtaken by social and historical change. Lenkom Theater. 7 p.m. New The Last Clown...

... concert performance. Satirikon Theater. May 31, 7 p.m. MT Pick Pushkin. Duel. Death. (Pushkin. Duel. Smert.): Kama Ginkas’ powerful staging, based on the memoirs of Pushkin’s contemporaries, is a brilliant examination of the way in which poets are misunderstood by those closest to them. Theater Yunogo Zritelya. May 31and June 6, 7 p.m. The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovy Sad): Anton Chekhov’s play about a family being overtaken by social and historical change. Lenkom Theater. May 31 and...

... leave the camp voluntarily, Interfax reported. A police spokesman said the protesters would be released following a "preventive discussion." By 6 a.m., no demonstrators remained in the area of the former camp centered around a statue of Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbayuli. Sanitation workers cleared the area of litter and sprayed down the statue of Qunanbayuli, whose first name gave the movement its unofficial name, Occupy Abai. Basmanny Court on Tuesday ordered the camp at Chistiye Prudy closed in...

... is 20.3 million rubles ($669,000) and relates to Pushkin Square and New Pushkin Square, RIA-Novosti reported. Both areas lie off Tverskaya Ulitsa, the city's main street. Pushkin Square, built after World War II, has a statue of Russia's most famous poet. New Pushkin Square stands opposite, on the other side Tverskaya Ulitsa and was built in 1977. The locations have fountains and granite ornamentation, flower beds and . The tender document states that both squares, which cover a combined area of...

... and striking demonstrators with batons at Sunday's March of a Million protest should have been rougher. Opposition organizers have been gathering protesters to Chistiye Prudy with calls to "Occupy Abai," a reference to the statue of Kazakh poet and cultural figure Abai Kunanbayev near which protesters have settled. 179742

... nerves, OMON riot police and regular officers briefly visited the camp on Monday and asked protesters to move off the grass. City Hall has estimated that 1 million rubles ($33,000) in damages have been inflicted to the grass around the statue of Kazakh poet-philosopher Abai Qunanbayuli, now a protest icon, RIA-Novosti reported. City Hall is exploring possible sites for what's being dubbed Moscow's Hyde Park — a permanent space for political gatherings. A list of proposed sites, including Gorky...

... central Moscow on Monday and Tuesday. On Friday, the only police in sight were two officers standing in the shade of a tree. The morning crowd is less clean-cut than the evening crowd, but all are welcome under the gaze of Abai Kunanbayev, the Kazakh poet-philosopher whose name and statue has become the latest symbol for a movement that seems to accumulate them by the day. Activists have started referring to the camp as "Occupy Abai." As a Moscow Times reporter prepared to leave the square...

... up later Saturday morning by the police, who directed the campers to walk to the Arbat, where at least 50 were detained during the day, RIA-Novosti reported, citing police. But people at the new Occupy Arbat site — located around a monument to poet Bulat Okudzhava — reported that dozens of new protesters were joining the camp on Saturday and Sunday. As of Sunday evening, the police hadn't intervened. Another group of opposition-minded citizens arrived Sunday at the Sakharov Center, which...

... station. This event once again ended in arrests, including Navalny, who was later sentenced to 15 days of detention. The police were able to dismantle the Kitai-Gorod camp, but it immediately popped up again at Chistiye Prudy by the statue of Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbayuli. The choice of venue was purely practical: The headquarters of the opposition movement Solidarity is close, giving the protesters access to hot coffee and tea. Within just a few hours, news of the event — already dubbed #OccupyAbai...

... was walking around scoping the area as a low-key, impromptu political gathering went on around us. Young people who had been chased by riot police from Staraya Ploshchad near Kitai-Gorod hours before had moved here to sit beneath a statue of Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev and sing songs by Viktor Tsoi and Yury Shevchuk. I hailed Grudovich and asked what was up. I knew his Partisan Theater was supposed to conduct a street performance earlier in the day, but I had looked all over the boulevard without...

... red convertible with the Soviet national anthem blasting from speakers. Around 500 people, carrying water, camping mats to sleep on and supplies donated via an Internet appeal, migrated to the next venue, this time an area near a statue of a Kazakh poet on Chistoprudny Bulvar. After the return to the boulevard, the "Groundhog Day"-like scene continued: Navalny spoke to the crowd, police caught up and blocked off the boulevard, and the crowd moved on, somewhat depleted and dissipated. It...

... lecture on bird songs. Three teenage girls with matching dyed red hair sat by the park’s pond, listening to one of them play a recorder. “No more obedience! No more fear!” a young man told the emergency assembly near a statue of Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbayuli, while skinheads with nationalist wristbands bustled around, muttering into walkie-talkies, and volunteers made bologna sandwiches and handed out plastic cups of bargain-basement pineapple juice. “I don't understand what they...

... weeklong commemoration of Okudzhava's life with concerts and events held on their indoor stage and on the square in front of the theater on Neglinnaya Ulitsa. These events, which have grown in popularity over the years, roughly coincide with the great poet, novelist and singer's birthday on May 9. This year the festival begins on the 9th and runs through May 17. I think of Okudzhava often. I wrote about some of the reasons for that in this space three years ago. But my thoughts took on a special...

... was walking around scoping the area as a low-key, impromptu political gathering went on around us. Young people who had been chased by riot police out of Staraya Ploshchad near Kitai-Gorod hours before had moved here to sit beneath a statue to Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev and sing songs by Viktor Tsoi and Yury Shevchuk. I hailed Grudovich and asked what was up. I knew his Partisan Theater was supposed to conduct a street performance earlier in the day, but I had looked all over the boulevard, not...