Speaking to Reuters ahead of the protests, Grigory Chkhartishvili, an opposition leader and famous author better known by his pen name Boris Akunin, said a smaller turnout this time around would not be disastrous.
“The opposition movement is growing, of course, and will spread throughout the whole country. This is absolutely clear and obvious from all the feedback we’re getting. With regard to the number of people on February 4, of course it will depend on the weather,” Akunin said.
“They say it will be freezing. I have worked out this formula — if it’s minus 15 degrees, each person who comes out counts as two people; if it’s minus 20, each person who comes counts as four.”
No arrests are expected in Moscow, where city authorities have sanctioned the demonstration.
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