冷眼·Digest

Elizaveta Semenova is helped by her daughter to fill in a ballot at her home in the village of Oster, Russia on December 4, 2011. Russians cast their ballots with muted enthusiasm in national parliamentary elections, a vote that polls indicate could water down the strength of the party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, despite the government`s relentless marginalization of opposition groups. (Sergei Grits/AP)

A police officer and electoral commission staff empty a ballot box after voting closed at a polling station in the village of Ust-Mana, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A woman reads a ballot during the parliamentary election in the western Russian village of Klukino on December 4, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A Russian police officer detains an opposition activist during a protest against vote rigging in St. Petersburg on December 4, 2011. (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)

Protesters demonstrate after voting closed in Russia`s parliamentary election in central Moscow on December 4, 2011. The banner reads `We were cheated`. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

People who were unable to reach the nearest polling station cast their ballots in a box brought by an election official in the village of Arzinka, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Activists of the Nashi movement, a Kremlin-backed youth organization, wave their banners and applaud during a concert in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergey Ponomarev/AP)

Journalists and observers work beneath a screen showing the first results from voting in Russia`s parliamentary election at the Central Electoral Commission in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Activists of the pro-Kremlin youth group `Nashi` gather to celebrate the victory of the United Russia political party in the parliamentary elections in central Moscow on December 5, 2011. (Anton Golubev/Reuters)

Activists of the pro-Kremlin youth groups `Moldaya Gvardiya` and `Nashi` attend a rally as they celebrate the victory of United Russia party in the parliamentary elections in central Moscow on December 5, 2011. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images) <

Russia`s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepares his ballot to vote for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images) <

An elderly Russian couple fill in a ballot in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergey Ponomarev/AP) <

Russian police officers block Red Square, with St. Basil`s Cathedral in the background, to prevent pro-democracy protesters from entering in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Ivan Sekretarev/AP) <

People queue to vote in parliamentary elections at the Russian consulate in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia on December 4, 2011. (Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters) <

A member of the `Polar Bear` sports club casts her ballot at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Barnaul, the capital of Altai region on December 4, 2011. (Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters) <

Russian navy sailors queue to cast their ballots at a polling station at the Russian Fleet base in Sevastopol, Ukraine on December 4, 2011. (Andrew Lubimov/AP) <

An election commission official uses a pocket light to help a voter to fill out their ballot at his home in the village of Oster, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Grits/AP) <

Russian soldiers have a rest after casting ballots at a polling station in the town of Torzhok, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Andrei Gordeyev/AP) <

Police detain an activist during a protest rally by opposition group `Another Russia` in central Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters) <

Electoral officials prepare ballots at a polling station in the western Russian city of Pochinok on December 2, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters) <

A transport police officer checks a polling station put up to enable passengers using trains to vote at the central railway station in Russia`s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on December 3, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters) <

People vote at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Anton Golubev/Reuters) <

A man leaves a voting booth in the settlement of Voronovo, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters) <

A serviceman holds his child casting a ballot at a polling station in Russia`s military base number 201 in Dushanbe on December 4, 2011. (Nozim Kalandarov/Reuters) <

A Russian citizen holds his child as he votes inside a local drama theater in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on December 4, 2011. (Vyacheslav OseledkoAFP/Getty Images) <

Russian soldiers stand in line at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./AP) <

The head of Russia`s leading independent election watchdog Golos (The Vote), Liliya Shibanova, speaks to journalists in Moscow on December 4, 2011. Golos, which claimed rampant violations in the campaign, said its `Map of Violations` website documenting reports of campaign fraud was the target of a distributed denial of service attack. (Alexey Sazonov/AFP/Getty Images) <

The `Russian Soul` amateur folk ensemble performs at a polling station during the parliamentary election in the village of Verkhniaya Biryusa in the Taiga area, south of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on December 4, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters) <

Electoral officials visit villagers in the western Russian village of Gryaz on December 4, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters) <

People vote in their home in the village of Oster, 237 miles west of Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Grits/AP) <

A Moscow shop assistant works on December 2, 2011 amidst TV screens during the broadcast of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev`s address to nation on the upcoming Parliamentary election. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images) <

Russian Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia supporters hold a joint rally to appeal to people to vote for their political parties in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on December 2, 2011. (Vladimir Konstantinov/Reuters) <