Weekend two of Russia-wide protests. Looks like Russian protest leaders are taking some cues from Hong Kong and moving their opposition around cities such as Moscow, trying to keep authorities off guard. Not sure its working though. The riot squads are able to move much faster. And deploy quickly. Having said that, the size of the crowd was impressive even as their personal danger dramatically increased. This kind of resolve will be hard to sustain though as the authorities appear to have an endless reserve of security services who have trained their entire careers for such encounters. No sign the FSB-led response will waver. The damage to the Russian “brand” is severe, but the Kremlin appears to care not.
