Cathedral of Christ the Saviour I. Metropolitan Jonah later described the event, saying that even with a congregation of approximately 2,500, the vast church was only half full. About 16 bishops attended the ordination of a new bishop that day. In 2012, five members of the rock band Pussy Riot staged an uninvited performance in the Cathedral, expressing political opinions critical of the government. The members were arrested and jailed. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (, "Khram Khrista Spasitelya") is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few hundred metres
Vladimir Putin period of demographic collapse that began in the 1990s. At the United Russia Congress in Moscow on 24 September 2011, Medvedev officially proposed that Putin stand for the Presidency in 2012, an offer Putin accepted. Given United Russia's near-total dominance of Russian politics, many observers believed that Putin was assured of a third term. The move was expected to see Medvedev stand on the United Russia ticket in the parliamentary elections in December, with a goal of becoming Prime Minister at the end of his presidential term. After the parliamentary elections on 4 December 2011, tens of thousands of Russians