Kremlin intensifies crackdown on dissent

Article reported that Russian authorities launched a crackdown on Left Front, a radical anti-Kremlin group, in October 2012 in an apparent effort to dismantle it, part of a heavy-handed approach to combating the country’s street protest movement.

A member of the Left Front opposition group was snatched off the street in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on the 19 October 2012.

Separately, the BBC and RIA Novosti reported that Russia’s beleaguered anti-Putin opposition launched nationwide polls on the20 November 2012 to elect leaders and breathe new life into its ten-month-old protest movement, but voting was disrupted by a massive cyber attack.

BBC News, 23.10.12: Anti-Putin opposition elected in Russian online poll http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20037209

RIA Novosti, 20.10.12: Putin Foes Vote for Leaders http://en.rian.ru/russia/20121020/176781135.html

RIA Novosti: Tag: Opposition coordinating committee http://en.rian.ru/tags/tag_Opposition_coordinating_committee/

ESO: Background information: Tens of thousands join anti-Putin demonstration http://www.europeansources.info/record/tens-of-thousands-join-anti-putin-demonstration/

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