Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday said there was nothing unusual in the mass protests against his domination of Russia, describing the turbulence as the “unavoidable price of democracy”. Tens of thousands took to the streets on December 10 and December 24 to denounce the alleged rigging of parliamentary elections and the Russian strongman himself, ahead of his candidacy in March presidential polls.
“Of course, we are in the middle of a political cycle – the parliamentary elections have finished and the presidential elections are going to start,” Putin said in a televised message to Russians ahead of the New Year. “In such times, politicians always exploit the feelings of citizens, everything gets shaken around a bit, boils up.
But this is the unavoidable price of democracy,” Putin said. “There is nothing unusual here,” he added. Putin has in the last days mocked the nascent protest movement against his rule, saying they appeared to have no programme and no leader.
