The opposition may stage provocations, including “bumping off” some high-profile figure and blaming it on the authorities, Russian Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
Such methods and tactics are known very well, he said during a meeting with his election campaign representatives and ruling party activists ahead of the March 4 presidential polls.
“They look for so-called sacrificial victims among some conspicuous figures. They will ‘bump him off,’ I beg your pardon, and will then blame the authorities for that.”
Street protests should be expected, but they will produce no result, Putin said, earlier warning the opposition to submit to the majority’s opinion.
“The minority has no right to impose its opinion on the majority,” he said.
Putin claimed he knew the opposition was making preparations to stuff ballot boxes and use video clips to discredit the presidential polls.
