. main trend was a continuation of the political system honed by Putin, according to most observers.4 In late 2008, President Medvedev proposed a number of political changes that were subsequently. “broad popular front [of] like-minded political forces,” to participate in the upcoming December 2011 Duma election, to include United Russia and other political parties, business associations,. in Moscow in February 2012. The court claimed that the songs were not political in nature so that the prosecution was not political. Many in the international community and in Russia had called...