Thousands protest Putin, but crowd is smaller

More than 20,000 protesters streamed down a central Moscow avenue Saturday to denounce Vladimir Putin's presidential election win, but the crowd's relatively small size compared to recent protests suggested the opposition movement has lost some momentum.     

Some of the new political energy that has emerged in Russia in recent months, however, is being channeled into local politics and civic activism. Two men in their 20s who had both just won seats on municipal councils were among those who addressed the crowd Saturday to call on Muscovites to get involved in how their city is run, starting with their own neighborhoods.     

The protest on Novy Arbat street ended peacefully, but leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov and two of his followers were detained shortly afterward as they tried to march to nearby Pushkin Square.     

Since the March 4 election, Udaltsov has returned to the confrontational approach of last year, when he spent a total of almost three months in jail as a result of defying city bans or restrictions on his protests.     

Putin, who was Russia's president from 2000 to 2008 before switching to the prime minister's office due to term limits, won 64 percent of the vote. Because of changes in the length of the presidential term, he is set to return to the Kremlin for six years and would be eligible to run for six more.

AP