Moscow calls in quarter of country's riot police for planned protests over contentious ballot Vladimir Putin is expected to win
Political tensions have reached fever pitch in Moscow as Russians get ready to take to the streets in protest following the election on Sunday, which is expected to return Vladimir Putin to the presidency.
Election monitors have complained of harassment and revealed alleged plans for mass fraud, adding to opposition anger at Putin's decision to run for president.
Opposition protesters have promised to turn out on Monday in Pushkin Square in central Moscow no matter what the result of the vote. Following several days of negotiations, city authorities gave their approved to the protest late on Thursday in an effort to ease tensions.
Alexey Navalny, an influential opposition leader, called on his followers to march on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin's walls. "Anyone who wants to will have the possibility to peacefully and unhurriedly move toward Manezh after the Pushkin protest," he tweeted on Friday.
Attempts earlier this week to hand out tents were thwarted by the authorities, which have already admitted concerns about a Ukraine-style Orange revolution in Russia. That revolution saw pro-democracy protesters in Kiev occupy a central square as they sought to overturn election results in 2004.
Some 6,000 riot police have been stationed in Moscow in the lead-up to the vote, the interior ministry said. That is one-quarter of the country's total riot police force, the opposition Novaya Gazeta reported on Friday
Putin is widely expected to win the election on Sunday and take up the post of president following four years as prime minister. His critics are trying to force him into a second round. Opinion polls suggest he has more than 50% of the popular vote, though election monitors have highlighted his use of "administrative resources" in unfairly framing his campaign.
"The main campaign is being conducted through the central television channels," the independent monitor group Golos said in a statement on Friday. "This is where administrative resources are used to the maximum extent to indirectly campaign for Putin under the guise of covering his professional activities.
"All of the official privileges of being the prime minister have been fully utilised: a trip across the country, meetings with labour collectives, speeches on campaign matters and promises, media reports and coverage."
Putin defended his right to run for office during a meeting with the editors of six foreign newspapers on Thursday, saying he was breaking no laws.
He also refused to annul the results of a December parliamentary vote that opposition protesters say was marred by fraud.
Putin is known to use his public statements as apparent hints at future action. After he denounced NGOs supported by foreign grants during a speech in November, a PR campaign was launched against Golos.
Earlier this week, Putin warned that the opposition might try to turn the protests violent. "They are even looking for a so-called 'sacrificial victim' among some prominent people," Putin said. "They might even, excuse me, 'waste' someone and then blame the government."
He also said the opposition would attempt to stuff ballots themselves in order to blame the government. Videos of apparent ballot-stuffing have already appeared online, something government critics say is a campaign to discredit real reports of violations.
Election monitors have complained of harassment. In Tver, north of Moscow, the activist who led the region's election monitoring effort and organised its protests in the wake of December's vote was arrested on Thursday on charges of mild hooliganism. Yury Suetin's colleagues said his arrest was politically motivated. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail on Friday.