Political career of Vladimir Putin personally congratulated Putin on his victory, calling Putin "a driving force behind strategic ties of cooperation between Venezuela and Russia." Anti-Putin protests took place during and directly after the presidential campaign. The most notorious protest was the 21 February Pussy Riot performance, and subsequent trial. Also, an estimated 8,000-20,000 protesters gathered in Moscow on 6 May, when eighty people were injured in confrontations with police, and 450 were arrested, with another 120 arrests taking place the following day. Putin was inaugurated in the Kremlin on 7 May 2012. On his first day as President, Putin issued 14 Presidential decrees, including
2011–2013 Russian protests the Russian-speaking population of other countries organized rallies worldwide with similar demands: Germany, Israel, USA. The organisers of the third Moscow "For Fair Elections" protest had difficulties originally financing the protest because contributions from the public had waned by January 2012, so they financed the organisation of the protest with money collected earlier for other events. At least 3,500 people demonstrated against Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, under heavy police presence, but no arrests were made. In Moscow on Sunday 26 February up to 30,000 people lined the Garden Ring in a protest called the Big White Circle. White clothes