Putin Scrambles to Silence Opposition as His Humiliating Crisis Escalates

Anastasia Barashkova / REUTERS Vladimir Putin is cracking down on political opposition after a rare wave of public anger in Russia. There was a brief window earlier this year when it looked as if opposition voices living under the authoritarian regime might finally be finding some headway, but now those days are gone. Russians will go to the polls in September to vote on all 450 seats inside the State Duma—the lower house of the country’s federal assembly—but concern is rising that the names…