How will Putin respond to the massive protests in Russia ?

[steve2470]

I am afraid there will be a bloody crackdown and I hope I'm wrong.

[gateley]

1. I fear you may be right. He's a frightening man. nt

[RKP5637]

2. There is an evilness in this man and the KGB is still with him I think, in intent and mind. I have

a feeling he wants Russia united and restored to the totalitarian gov. it once was with him at the helm.

[Hardrada]

3. I don't think they have Cossacks anymore.

[steve2470]

4. clarify please, thanks nt

[Hardrada]

11. The tsars used to employ Cossack cavalrymen to disperse mobs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I fear you are correct

I expect this to be bloody because this GLOBAL revolution needs to be put down... yes, it is global and yes elites all over are reacting in predictable ways.

[Muskypundit]

6. They are in a police state

He doesn't have to respond. Protesters will never win, never be allowed to get violent, and he will continue to rig the vote. And it will be like that until he dies or gets tired.

[cowcommander]

7. No he won't, Putin isn't that dumb

OMOH usually beats the shit out of protestors but it seems that they're being told by the government to let them protest. My guess is Putin is letting them protest until the protestors run out of steam. Truth is there's no alternative to Putin in Russia right now, a lot of people are angry but just as many still support him.

[roguevalley]

8. all these fucking narcissists. they're everywhere. when he paraded around without his shirt on I

knew Russia was in for hard times.

[doc03]

9. Those Russians are savages, I wouldn't be suprised if they

pepper spray them and beat the hell out of them with clubs.

[msongs]

10. probably like obama, he has the right to permanently detain anyone he likes not nt

[David__77]

12. Probably by being elected president...

Do you really think that most voters in the Russian Federation as a whole will not vote for him? For whom would they vote instead? Zyuganov? I don't see protests as particularly problematic for Putin. The only issue would be if the labor unions became involved, which would probably be up to the communists to a large degree.

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Ask Sarah Palin. She can see what he's doing...

[Fool Count]

14. "Massive" is overstating it. By protesters' own inflated count there was ~100k of them

at the last demo. A more realistic figure would be 50k. That's like 0.5% of population of Moscow.
In provinces (including St. Petersburg) turnout was even less impressive with few hundred to
couple thousand participating. I don't see why would that worry Putin at all, and don't think that
it really does.

[bemildred]

15. He should walk into the sunset now, best way to protect his "legacy".

It's going to all be downhill from here if he tries to stay on.