Wordsmiths

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev could not simply ignore the unprecedented wave of popular discontent that has swept the country this winter, following last December’s Duma vote, which many consider to have been rigged. But often their statements make things worse, giving rise to ever more creative protest signs.

On December 6, Dmitry Medvedev thanked Russia’s Central Election Committee Chairman Vladimir Churov for his magical powers, because his prediction about voter turnout at the Duma polls was allegedly the closest to the real numbers.

Churov: My prognosis was the most exact, I was only two-tenths off, I said that there would be 60 percent.