Vladimir Putin gave his traditional State of the Nation address. The performance was even broadcast in cinemas, in front of an audience with an eye for detail.
Putin wants to be re-elected as president on March 17th. There is no doubt about the result because a real opposition is not allowed to vote. The country's most important opposition figure to date, Alexei Navalny, will be buried on Friday in this cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow. He died in a penal colony in Siberia in mid-February.