In the lead-up to his inauguration for a third term as Russia’s President, riot police raided cafés, and grabbed people off the streets – even merely for sporting white ribbons, which symbolize opposition to Mr. Putin’s autocratic rule. Two prominent opposition leaders, Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, were jailed for disobeying police. A state that sets upon its opponents, deploys riot police and armoured vehicles to clear peaceful protesters, and detains its critics, is by its nature unstable and undemocratic. Mr. Putin, then, would seem to pose a risk to the very things he claims to want and Russia most needs.
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