Not so long ago, the very idea that crowds of protesting people with political demands would come out onto the streets of Moscow and other cities might seem ridiculous. And before there were spontaneous demonstrations, rallies, sometimes beyond the law. But such political demands have never been heard: the appointment of new elections for the President of Russia, the appointment of new elections to the State Duma. The participants in these demonstrations proudly call their events “March of Millions”.
Participants claim that they will continue activities until their requirements are met. What kind of people are participating in these marches? What are their goals, composition, leadership? What caused the marches at all?
It should be frankly admitted that state authorities at all levels, including the current President of Russia, bear their share of responsibility for the current situation. They could not or did not want to timely understand and feel the growing social tension and discontent. Some people do not want to put up with social injustice, corruption, which has taken on completely indecent proportions. In the course of last year's elections to the State Duma, the administrative resource was used in full force in order to ensure the victory of the rapidly losing popularity of the United Russia party, which aroused even greater indignation of many citizens. On the other hand, it must be admitted that V. V. Putin in March of this year at the presidential elections in Russia, even taking into account the violations committed, is indisputable and does not raise doubts. He still enjoys the support of a large majority of Russian citizens, albeit not as unconditional as before.
Of course, whatever the outcome of the elections, the head of state will always be dissatisfied, who believe that the elections were dishonest, rigged, etc. Taking into account the remaining dissatisfaction with the results of the elections to the State Duma, they decided to use this circumstance as the old leaders of the opposition - B. Nemtsov, M. Kasyanov. V. Ryzhkov, G. Kasparov, and new, young - A. Navalny, S. Udaltsov and others. Under the slogan "Let's defend fair elections!" they started organizing massive protests. True, instead of the widely advertised millions, no more than several tens of thousands of people took part in each such action. Another similar event is scheduled for June 12th. The composition of the participants is very diverse, mainly office workers, students, representatives of creative professions go to them.
