Last Monday, eight Bolotnaya protesters received sentences of up to 4 years instead of the five-six years requested by the prosecution. The only woman among them received a suspended sentence. The president’s spokesman has made it clear that clemency requests from the Bolotnaya protesters would be welcome.
There’s something seriously perverted about making victims of injustice beg for clemency.
And now Navalny is under house arrest. The Winter Olympics are truly over. The Russian government won’t have to worry too much about its international image until the World Cup comes round in 2018.