Moscow held rival rallies on Sunday by tens of thousands of Vladimir Putin supporters and members of Russia's nascent protest movement ahead of his inauguration to a third Kremlin term.

Russian communist party supporter holds a poster with the president-elect Vladimir Putin picture during the May Labour Day rally of the Russian communist party in Moscow, on May 1. Putin will crown his thumping March presidential election victory with a glitzy inauguration on Monday that includes a booming 30-gun salute and a special blessing from Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill., Photo: AFP

Russia's current premier will crown his thumping March presidential election win with a glitzy inauguration on Monday that includes a booming 30-gun salute and a special blessing from Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill.

Leaders of protests that gripped Moscow following fraud-tainted legislative polls in December had set Sunday as their target for showing the ex-KGB spy how far Russia has evolved since his domination of the country from 2000 to 2008.

They had earlier cancelled several post-Putin vote rallies after drawing a fraction of the 100,000-strong crowds that once joined them amid doubts about what new demonstrations could possibly call for or achieve.

Only 10,000 users had pledged their attendance for Sunday on Russia's VK Internet forum, while police in Siberian city of Irkutsk reported just 70 people coming to an event organised for more than 1,000.

Similar small numbers were reported in central Russia as well.

A drizzle began to fall on the Moscow crowd as the first few thousand gathered for a march along a main thoroughfare toward a square opposite the river from the Kremlin for a rally officially limited to 5,000 people.

But those there – many waving banners or beating drums while wearing the traditional white protest ribbons – said they feared for Russia's course in the first six of a possible 12 new years the 59-year-old can now stay in power.

"He is is approaching his 60s and is hardly likely to be any better than he was before," said human relations consultant Artyom Streltsov. "And I did not see any success in the past 12 years."

The flagging protest numbers underscore the trouble the fractured movement – its ranks filled with everyone from veteran liberals to teenage Stalinists – will have in finding direction during Putin's six-year term.

The media have been dominated by the state since the Russian strongman's first term, while his 46-point win over his nearest rival underscored how criticism of party politics does not necessarily translate to Putin himself.

And protesters who did try to reach Moscow from the regions complained of a concerted police campaign to prevent them from getting far.

Media in Putin's home town of Saint Petersburg said traffic police had stopped several buses and taken vehicle documents to prevent them from heading to Moscow.

Others turned to the social networks to vent their frustration. An activist in the industrial city of Ufa tweeted that three people were detained while boarding a train and jailed for three days for allegedly picking a fight.

The city also closed 12 Moscow subway stations that all fell within easy walking distance of the march. Authorities justified the closures saying they need to clear streets so the military could practice for the annual May 9 victory day parade.

Putin's supporters meanwhile made certain that the opposition did not get the last say before Monday's ceremony by planning a Sunday "celebration" of 50,000 people at Victory Park – a site dedicated to Russia's 1812 defeat of Napoleon.

A top city official said Putin's group did not need permission to bring out such large numbers onto a public square because "what they will be having is not a rally or a march or a protest."

"It will be a mass cultural event," Moscow regional security department head Alexei Mayorov told Russian news agencies.

The entire transition from outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev to his mentor has been tightly scripted from the moment their intended job swap was revealed to the public last year.

The plan will see Medvedev visit parliament only hours after Putin's swearing-in ceremony to begin consultations that could see his candidacy for the premiership approved by Tuesday evening.

Source: AFP