Putin returns to the Kremlin – but has he lost his magic touch as the infallible leader?

Forum: Opposition to Putin grows despite victory

Hello, and welcome to the debate  here on EuroparlTV.

Today we're discussing Russia  following the presidential election

and Vladimir Putin's  unsurprising return to the Kremlin.

Outside observers  have not been impressed

the refusal to accept  the candidacy of serious rivals

and the fact that only small and  ineffective opposition media are tolerated,

while Mr Putin dominated  the main state-owned channels.

He accused his critics  of being paid by the West.

Even his most strident critics  reckon he'd have won anyway,

But there now is opposition in Russia.  They took to the streets

after December's elections  amidst vote-rigging accusations

and they've been out since Mr Putin's  re-election. What's the story?

I have four guests with me.  Let me introduce them.

On my left, and broadly supporting  Mr Putin, I have Tatjana Ždanoka,

a Latvian member of the European  Free Alliance side of the Greens Group,

also a mathematician  and a human rights campaigner.

She wants Russian recognised  as an official language in Latvia.

Next to her is Miloslav Ransdorf  from the Czech Republic,

who sits with the Confederal Group  of the European United Left, the GUE,

and has written 23 books, including  one on Karl Marx and Che Guevara

and the origins  of American political culture.

Across from him, let me introduce  and welcome Kristiina Ojuland,

She's a lawyer, a diplomat,  a former Foreign Minister of Estonia.

In that guise, I interviewed you  for Sky News many years ago.

She's an MEP with the Liberal  Democratic group, the ALDE.

who's not an MEP but is Director of  Studies at the European Policy Centre.

I think he has also published books.  His special interests are:

European integration, EU institutions  and policies, foreign and security policy,

security and defence, global governance,  world powers and world policy,

which is quite a formidable list, I think.

Before we start our debate, I'll introduce  the voice of Lyudmila Alexeyeva,

a member of Memorial,  the Russian civil liberties group

that won the EP's Sakharov Prize  in 2009.

She was involved in monitoring voting  in the Arbat District of Moscow.

We spoke to her this week.  She claims large numbers of Russians

were bussed into Moscow  to vote in areas like hers

where Mr Putin's support  was relatively weak.

They came here in groups  of about 7-12 people,

They came in groups from different cities.

500 of them had come  from Adygeya to Moscow

where Putin and Medvedev  gave speeches.

In spite of all the threats,  Putin only got 35.8% in our area,

and not 63%  as the electoral commission claims.

Our observers went out and watched  where they went after voting.

All of these groups from different cities  went into the same nearby café

It is completely obvious that  these people were brought in,

had their transport paid for,  their accommodation paid for.

Maybe they were paid as well.  I don't know.

Of the 35.8% of people  who voted for Putin,

I think that at least half of them  do not live in the Arbat District,

It's in this sense  that the vote was orchestrated.

The voice there of Lyudmila Alexeyeva  of Memorial.

I'll come to you first, Tatjana Ždanoka.

Do you feel the election was fair  from what you've seen?

First of all, you have presented me  as a supporter of Putin.

I belong to the left wing as a politician

and I completely disagree first of all  with the financial and economic politics

But I know the realities,  being a Russian speaker

and regularly watching Russian television  when I am at home at the weekend,

Following what has happened,  and I know that...

The slogan 'If not Putin, who?'  was basically right.

I don't agree also  that the opposition is united

with 20% of Communists under  Zyuganov in the Duma elections.

There's big support just for  left-wing political ideas within Russia.

Of course, there is some support  for liberal ideas,

which maybe wasn't articulated  during this election.

I regret very much that Yavlinsky  didn't participate and was out of it.

that Putin was backed  by the majority of voters.

What direction do you see  Mr Putin going in now?

He's home and dry with a large majority,

but he doesn't have the huge groundswell  of support he had the first time.

What direction do you see him going in  now? Where will he be forced to go?

Frankly, it's very difficult to predict,

because we haven't heard  any of his campaign,

any words, any political programmes  in economic terms.

We have heard  some quite robust language

concerning international relations  and international cooperation.

We can maybe predict the relations  between the US and Russia,

but I haven't heard much  on domestic policies really.

Josef Janning, you're an expert  on international relations.

and his opponents.  He's also silenced several of them.

In my view, what we will see domestically  will be Putinism,