Kremlin struggling to tame discontent over flawed elections
Over 1,000 demonstrators and truckloads of troops were squaring off on Moscow’s main streets on Tuesday, as protests continue over flawed parliamentary elections in Russia, the Financial Times reports. On Sunday, the country’s ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote shrink to 49.54 per cent, down from 64.3 per cent in 2007. The party of prime minister Vladimir Putin still controls a majority of the seats in the lower house, but the election represented a resounding defeat for the Kremlin in the court of public opinion. The vote was also marred with fraud allegations, which lead hundreds to stage protests in the capital.