Crossing Continents
Crossing Continents
BBC Radio 4
Protesting in Putin's Russia
27 minutes Posted Aug 25, 2016 at 3:30 am.
0:00
27:42
Download MP3
Show notes

After the last elections in Russia, mass protests against vote-rigging led to clashes in the centre of Moscow. The events on Bolotnaya Square were the biggest challenge President Putin has ever faced to his rule. Four years on, several demonstrators are still serving long prison sentences, the laws on protesting have been tightened and the arrests continue. As Russia gears up for parliamentary elections in September, Sarah Rainsford talks to some of those caught up in the Bolotnaya protests, and asks what their stories tell us about Putin's Russia today.

Producer: Mark Savage.