Anti-Putin rally begins in Moscow

A massive anti-Putin rally has begun in Moscow, RIA Novosti reports.

Sunday’s rally comes on the eve of the inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president. Putin won a landslide victory in March elections marred by allegations of vote fraud to secure a third term in the Kremlin after being forced to step down by the Constitution in 2008.

Some 8,000 people are currently gathered in downtown Moscow ahead of the rally, police said. Eyewitness at the scene, including a RIA Novosti correspondent gave the figure as around twice that.

Some 3,000 people have also pledged on social network sites to hold an illegal march toward the Kremlin later this evening.