Anti-government protests staged in Russia over the weekend are a “positive sign” for democracy in the former Soviet republic, Washington said on Monday.
“The demonstrations that occurred in Moscow and in many other Russian cities last Saturday represent a very positive sign to all those who support the democratic process,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
“Russian government authorities allowed the demonstrations to take place, and refrained from interfering in them,” he said.
Tens of thousands of people gathered near the Kremlin on Saturday to protest against alleged fraud at the December 4 parliamentary elections, which saw Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party just maintain its parliamentary majority.
Smaller rallies were also held in St. Petersburg and other cities.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote was “slanted in favor of the ruling party.”
Putin accused the United States last week of backing the protests and said that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comments on the elections had “given a signal” to the opposition.
Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, jailed for 15 days for their parts in a protest immediately after the polls, lodged appeals on Monday against their sentences at the European court of Human Rights, their lawyers said.
