By Nathan Hodge, CNN
Updated 4:06 AM ET, Sun December 29, 2019
Moscow (CNN)In the global battle of ideas, Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a banner year.
Back in June, Putin made waves by declaring the death of Western liberalism.
Those remarks seemed timed to provoke debate ahead of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. But it wasn’t just talk: In the months that followed, Putin would continue to set the example for authoritarian leadership.
Take, for example, Putin’s policies toward his country’s embattled and marginalized political opposition.
For much of the summer, the Russian capital of Moscow saw a wave of opposition demonstrations. For a time, unsanctioned rallies and solo protests seemed to gain momentum. Russian authorities even dropped criminal charges against a prominent investigative reporter after an unexpected public outpouring of support.
But a crackdown on the opposition then followed, with the detention of leading opposition figures and sweeping arrests of more than 2,000 demonstrators. The Russian government, it seemed, was determined not to let street protests get anywhere near the scale seen in Hong Kong.
Russia also showed willingness to exert more control over its citizens online.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/29/europe/russia-vladimir-putin-2019-intl/index.html