Rally "For Fair Elections!" was 300 strong in Rostov-on-Don

On February 26, a rally "For Fair Elections!" in Theatre Square of Rostov-on-Don brought together about 300 people. It is much smaller than at previous similar actions. Most of the protesters came there either with colourful banners or with flags of almost all oppositional parties and movements.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the campaign "For Fair Elections!" was coordinated with the city authorities. The rally ended without incidents; however, in the evening on February 26, Vladislav Ryazantsev, one of the organizers and coordinator of the "Left-Wing Front" in the Rostov Region, was detained by policemen near his home.

A few minutes after the start of the action, there were about 300 people in the square. This is several times smaller than at previous such rallies, despite the fact that the weather has become warmer.

"I don't represent any of the parties, I am a non-partisan citizen. I came to the rally, because I'm convinced that the stay in power of one and the same person for 12 years is too long. I'd like to demonstrate by my involvement in the action that I'm personally against this situation," Vyacheslav, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and added that at the upcoming March 4 election he will be an observer for the first time.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Yuri Nazarenko, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "World Revolution" and an activist of the group of Marxist internationalists: "There are no real oppositional parties in Russia. Those, which exist, have been in fact sanctioned by the Kremlin; however, those, which are really in opposition, are banned. But by and large we have no parties. For about 10 years I was an observer at elections, and I can say that frauds have ever been there. Putin has invented nothing new."

According to his story, now the authorities are trying to mitigate frauds that they look not so illegal. "While by and large I am sure that Putin can win quite legally," said the activist.