Russian Presidential Election: Opposition groups claim elections not fair

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The Russian presidential election is only about a week away, and all polling currently points to a landslide victory for Vladimir Putin in the first round. But opposition groups claim the elections are unfair, and say the Putin administration has failed to address many of Russia's problems. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic is in Moscow and has more on those who are opposing Putin.

This has been a familiar face in the political life of Russia for almost 30 years.

The leader of the Russian Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov. He came out on this freezing March day for a party rally to support a different presidential candidate.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC MOSCOW "For the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gennady Zyuganov will not run for president of Russia, as a candidate for the Russian Communist Party. Instead, Pavel Grudinin, a local businessman, will take the helm of this campaign of the Russian communists."

A number of people gathered here, waving old communist flags and handing out copies of the newspaper "Soviet Russia".

PAVEL GRUDININ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA "Only we can give dignity to a lot of people in our country, creating an environment for them to earn adequate salaries and pensions. The current policy makers are scared of that. That's why the oligarchs and the bureaucrats, who are running TV channels, did everything to pour dirt on me."

Just day earlier, a different and more modern style of anti-Putin activism took place in front of one of Moscow's metro stations.

This time, it was supporters for presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak. She's the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, former mentor to Vladimir Putin.

People here have gathered to sign up to become election observers. Sobchak campaigners hope that more than five thousand will take part in Moscow alone.

They claim past Russian elections have been marred by fraud, but that's not stopping them.

TIMUR VALEEV HEAD OF REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS NETWORK FOR KSENIJA SOBCHAK "Ksenija Sobchak now has access to the national media, and she is the only one among all the candidates that speaks the truth, pointing out the problems that exist in the country. It's huge plus when millions of people in this country can hear the truth, and because of that, we need to participate in the elections."

Another opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is considered by some to be the strongest opponent to Putin. But in December, he was banned from participating in the elections on legal grounds that were strongly disputed both here in Russia and abroad.

Some analysts claim that Navalny is more the champion of the Western media than the Russians themselves.

DMITRY BABICH POLITICAL ANALYST "The West decided to put its stake on Navalny, who is at the same time nationalist, pro-Western and very anti-Putin. Their aim is to divide, it's not necessary for them for a liberal to win, the main thing is division of the Russian society. That's why they've invested so much in him. However, that investment so far has not yielded any particular results."

Even if Putin is re-elected, as most expect, he'll have to face a growing opposition throughout the country for the next six years. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Moscow.