On Wednesday September 11, Pushkin House, the Russian cultural centre in London, held a panel discussion on the Moscow Mayoral Elections. Panellists included the Eastern Europe Editor of the Financial Times, Neil Buckley, former British Ambassador to Moscow, Sir Tony Brenton, Director of the Russia Institute at Kings College London, Dr Sam Greene, and the editor of Russian newspaper Kommersant UK, Victor Balagadde.

The discussion focused on Sergey Sobyanin’s officially declared victory with 51.3% of the vote. Everyone on the panel agreed, however, that the results had been manipulated. Regional elections were mentioned too, with Balagadde noting the opposition victories in Yekaterinburg and in Karelia’s capital Petrozavodsk.

The panellists also discussed Alexei Navalny, who came second in the mayoral race with 27.2% of the vote, and whether he will now be facing jail or not. Some felt that the prospect of Navalny going to jail was made less likely by the fact that the authorities, “wouldn’t want to create another Khodorkovsky”.

Sir Tony Brenton added that, “Khodorkovsky is more of a problem in jail than out – being a spiritual inspiration for the opposition.”