I just got off the phone with Eduard Limonov, the leader of the National Bolsheviks (NatsBols), a party consistently under attack from the Putin regime, to hear his first hand account of the weekend's demonstrations. Limonov confirmed that he was arrested in an apartment after the march by heavily armed special forces in what sounded like rough scuffle. He now faces two charges, one of resisting arrest and one of fomenting an illegal demonstration, and will be in court on the 26th of this month.
Limonov was categorical in his view that "the repressive conduct of the regime has now been demonstrated for the world to see."
Many of the people I have spoken to today who were present at the marches in Moscow and St. Petersburg are gauging the meaning and implications of the crackdown. I am hearing a lot of different opinions, but the general consensus seems to be that this "dramatic escalation" is going to create a stronger opposition movement, and neither side shows any signs of changing their course.
Bob, I wonder how you see such a shattered opposition to grow stronger. Isn't there a world of difference in between the political theories (and praktices!) of Limonov and Kasiyanov? How do you envision that growing stronger?