Anti-government and pro-government demonstrations take place in Moscow

Participants in Saturday's rallies are gathering in Moscow on Kalugskaya Square and Poklonnaya Hill. Organizers of the demonstrations have already completed preparations. More than 100 thousand people are attending the two major rallies in temperatures of -20 C, RIA Novosti reports.

The opposition demonstration expressing discontent with the last Duma elections started at 12:40 and is marching from the Oktyabrskaya metro station. Participants have been divided into several columns. The opposition is chanting the slogan "Russia without Putin". Presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov is taking part in the march, heading a separate column of his supporters.

The organization of Saturday’s march has seen the involvement of the Voters League, a freshly-minted public group that claims no involvement in politics and is led by popular figures such as novelist Boris Akunin, TV journalist Leonid Parfyonov and rock musician Yury Shevchuk.

There have been numerous reports in the Russian media of state employees being coerced to attend the Anti-Orange rally, but the authorities have said these are untrue or the actions of over-zealous, low-level officials.

The situation on Bolotnaya Square is calm. Organizers of the rally are finishing the final preparations for the event and are setting up the music stage. Police officers on duty are gathered in the area and its surroundings, several dozen police cars are on the way to the area and the Kadashevskaya Embankment.

The rally at Poklonnaya Hill, called in response to the opposition rally, is being held under the slogan "We have something to lose". Among the participants is the Congress of Russian Communities, the Regional Public Foundation for Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of Russia and others. The organizers urged protesters to resist what organizers say are attempts to instigate an Orange Revolution in Russia. So-called Color uprisings took place in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia in the early 2000s after contested presidential elections.

Late on Friday Putin thanked those people who planned to attend the rally in his support. “I share their views,” RIA-Novosti reports his words.

VK correspondents have reported about two more meetings from the center of Moscow. An LDPR rally took place on Pushkinskaya Square and is coming to an end, while a liberal group headed by Valentina Novodvorskaya and Konstantin Borovoy is only starting its rally on Sahkarov avenue.

In the December elections to the Duma, the ruling "United Russia" party won a majority in the lower house. Rallies were held in many Russian cities, in which the participants demanded a repeal of the vote, new elections and the resignation of the CEC head. In Moscow, the opposition has previously held mass rallies on Bolotnaya Square and Sakharov Avenue.