What the Protests in Russia Could Mean for the Kremlin

The Russian government's decision to exclude several independent candidates from upcoming local elections has resulted in a recent wave of protests in Moscow. In its 2019 Third-Quarter Forecast, Stratfor noted that the Kremlin would successfully contain such demonstrations by deploying its usual mixture of security crackdowns and concessions. But the true impact of the demonstrations will hinge less on their activity in the streets and more on their ability to produce a sizable loss for Moscow and its political proxies in the voting booth come September. Such an outcome, however, will largely depend on three key developments in the week ahead, including whether the protests grow in scope and how Moscow’s decides to react....