Russian opposition politicians say that many political convictions in Russia are often handed down by top Kremlin officials, not the country's courts, leading to the suppression of protests and a dwindling opposition in exile. DW's Jennifer Pahlke reports.
Other big names in Russian opposition include world chess championand former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Both have lived outside of Russia for years. They meet up with other exiled Russians once a year in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius for the Free Russia Forum to discuss political topics.
There are currently five parties represented in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly. They include United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Just Russia and New People. Putin has virtually destroyed the opposition in Russia, says Schlossberg."Elections have become pretty much incidental. They're not really a criteria for success, and any desired result can be manufactured. What's most important is that there's aIn 2006, several opposition parties united and formed the The Other Russia coalition. Garry Kasparov was part of the coalition, as was the human rights organization.