thedeathstroke0

Nothing happens, this corruption and unfair elections have been a staple of Russian politics since the early 90s (possibly as a result of the rampant capitalism introduced by Gorbachev). A single protest in Moscow, despite how bad it looks in the pictures, is very unlikely to change anything or even general public opinion towards Putin (especially in more rural regions).

In terms of consolidating power he doesn’t have to do anything. He’s already an absolute dictator and a protest like that won’t threaten him at all. Unfortunately this will likely continue until Putin is succeeded by someone who wasn’t directly appointed by him, from his administration (like Medvedev).

Source: lived in Russia for 12 years

He absolutely was, however this pro-Western sentiment and privatization of many state owned industries is eventually what led to the rise of oligarchs today, who were able to buy those previously state owned enterprises for relatively low prices in the 80s-90s and develop them into huge private corporations in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Of course there are other factors at stake other than political ideology, however from my own experience this has revealed itself as the primary factor in Russia changing from the communist state it was throughout the 20th century into a state where capitalism flourishes and is very prevalent, to the extent where it allowed for the rise of oligarchs.

Specifically what I mean is the immense power and inequality present in Russia today between oligarchs and politicians, who were often able to create agreements with each other on private (though formerly nationalized) enterprises, and the majority of the Russian population today, which suffers from the corruption present in government today as a result of the privatization reforms instilled by Gorbachev in 88 and close (corrupt) links between politicians and businessmen in Russia today. By the time the Soviet Union was dissolved it had moved much farther right than Gorbachev himself moved it through Perestroika, but nonetheless it moved due to his reforms which acted as catalysts.

There is, this is slowly building up especially with the emergence of an opposition through Navalny. However despite this the election outcome will be the same, and I really don’t think that the protest/opposition will be large enough to displace the current authority.

Although I guess we will see and I hope I am wrong.

I do not right now but I spent a long time there and still visit often as I am Russian myself