A raid on an opposition television station. A harsh sentence for an antigovernment protester. Fresh charges against a longtime Kremlin foe. And reports that the authorities are making emergency plans to secure government buildings in the event of mass unrest.
Four years ago this week, the largest anti-Kremlin demonstrations since the fall of the Soviet Union broke out in Moscow.
And despite Vladimir Putin's sky-high poll numbers and the wave of patriotic fervor sweeping the country, the Kremlin appears increasingly worried that, as Russia's recession deepens, people could again take to the streets.
On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we discuss the regime's jitters and whether they are justified.
Joining me are co-host Mark Galeotti, a professor at NYU, an expert on Russia's security services, and author of the blog In Moscow's Shadows; and Sean Guillory of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies, author of Sean's Russia Blog, and host of the SRB Podcast.
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Podcast: Putin's Protest Problem
Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes.