By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Several Russian pro-Kremlin youth movements will hold a total of 26 rallies in Moscow over Sunday and Monday as Russians will vote in the presidential election March 4, Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported.
Members of the loyal to the Kremlin youth groups, Nashi (Ours), Rossiya Molodaya (Young Russia) and the youth arm of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, Molodaya Gvardia (Young Guard) will occupy the most symbolic Moscow’s venues, Manezhnaya, Lubyanskaya, Teatralnaya, Bolotnaya and Revolution squares.
The opposition activists who received an approval from the city’s authorities to hold a protest only at the Pushkinskaya Square, are however preparing a series of protest rallies following the presidential elections, widely believed to ensure Putin’s return to power.
Several opposition groups have discussed plans ranging from setting up tents in downtown city to encircling the Kremlin.
A total of 36,500 people, including 16,000 police officers, 14,000 volunteers, over 4,000 of guard companies’ workers and 2,000 students of police academies will be drafted to Moscow to help ensure security on the election day.