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    March 10, 2012

Thousands of Anti-Putin Demonstrators Rally in Moscow

   VOA News
   Opposition protesters with their flags shout anti-Putin's slogans as
   they gathered in the center of Moscow during a rally, Saturday, March
   10, 2012.
   Photo: AP
   Opposition protesters with their flags shout anti-Putin's slogans as
   they gathered in the center of Moscow during a rally, Saturday, March
   10, 2012.

   Thousands of Russian demonstrators converged on central Moscow
   Saturday, protesting President-elect Vladimir Putin's third term in
   office amid allegations of election fraud.
   The demonstrators are challenging the authority of Putin, who won 64
   percent of the vote in Sunday's election. He served as president from
   2000-2008, but term limits prevented him from running for a third
   consecutive term. He then became prime minister - a position he
   currently holds.
   Putin's ruling United Russia party won 238 of the 450 seats in the
   December parliamentary election. Allegations of fraud in the election
   sparked mass protests, led by the opposition.
   Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Moscow and elsewhere
   demanding a rerun of the elections in the largest demonstrations in
   post-Soviet Russia.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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