Authorities try to deter anti-Putin protesters

Russian authorities sought yesterday to deter activists from turning up at a rally against Vladimir Putin’s rule, with the Church calling on them to pray instead and the chief doctor urging them to stay home due to cold weather.

Tens of thousands are expected tomorrow to march through Moscow to a square just over the Moscow river from the Kremlin to protest Mr Putin’s grip on Russia, exactly one month before he stands in presidential polls on March 4.

After much haggling the Moscow city hall has allowed opposition activists to go ahead with the march and subsequent rally, the opposition movement’s third major protest since fraud-tainted December parliamentary elections.

The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, which has been watching opposition calls to take to the streets to demand fair elections with growing unease, called on the faithful to eschew rowdy demonstrations for a peaceful prayer.

“Orthodox Christians don’t know how to take to the streets,” Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said in an address to Russians.

“These people do not turn up at demonstrations, their voices cannot be heard, they pray in the quiet of monasteries, cells, and homes,” he added on Wednesday.

Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko who is notorious in Russia for frequently intervening in political disputes, also called on activists to stay home tomorrow due to the current bout of cold weather.

“The forecast for Saturday is extremely unfavourable with weather temperatures of minus 18 degrees Cels-ius predicted”, he said.