Street protests are not uncommon in Russia, but with very few exceptions they are small and focused on local, socioeconomic issues. In the past month, however, calls for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign were heard at rallies in different parts of Russia. These events -- one organized in late January in Kaliningrad, on Russia's western border; the other last week in the Siberian city of Irkutsk -- were not related and are not likely to evolve into a national political movement. But such gatherings underscore the cracks in the Kremlin political system of centralized power, opaque decision-making and unaccountability.
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