Writing in the New York Times, Viktor Erofeyev details the juxtaposition of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration on Sunday, with his Police force’s “brutal crackdown” on Opposition protests the day before.

He writes, “the inauguration … took place to the echoes of the screams of peaceful demonstrators beaten in police buses” demonstrating “a rejection of compromise by the state”. Putting the increasingly effective protest movement in context, he suggests the President will find ruling, “from a Moscow that did not give him even half its votes”, a challenge with charges of electoral fraud and therefore diminished legitimacy creating a difficult backdrop.

Putin was, the article suggests, “stern-looking” during the lavish inauguration ceremony, perhaps determined to hold onto the power which, Erofeyev suggests, may not automatically switch back to the loyal Medvedev, as before, but instead to “his enemy Khodorkovsky, since the bloodied opposition now demands that Putin be brought to justice”.

Looking forward, Erofeyev argues Putin’s reign is set to be characterized by the appearance of, rather than real, change. He points out that “the reality will be a policy of isolation from the West” and given the deepening divides in Russia between those who recognize the President and those who do not, warns of a future marred by continued stagnation.

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