Vladimir Putin the Russian opposition and by international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe for procedural irregularities. Anti-Putin protests took place during and directly after the presidential campaign. The most notorious protest was the Pussy Riot performance on 21 February, and subsequent trial. 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. A counter-protest of Putin supporters occurred which culminated in a gathering of an estimated 130,000 supporters at the Luzhniki Stadium, Russia's largest stadium.
2000 Vladimir Putin presidential campaign of law. During his speech, he said that the day before"learned about the creation in Moscow initiative group." According to Putin, he has not yet planned to announce his readiness to run for President but "in this solemn atmosphere I would like to say that I am pleased to accept the proposal". On 7 February, representatives of the initiative group to nominate Vladimir Putin submitted 574,128 signatures to the Central Election Commission. After a random inspection, 1.48% of them were found to be unreliable (with a maximum of 15% established by law). On 15 February, Vladimir Putin was registered as