Thirteen years ago, Vladimir went to watch a martial arts tournament and, as he congratulated the winner of one heavyweight bout, the unthinkable happened: a large section of the crowd began booing and jeering their shocked leader.It was the start of a rocky period for the Russian president as his blatantly rigged elections sparked the country's biggest protests since the collapse of the Soviet Union. 'We're not afraid any more,' a man told me at one huge demonstration in .I heard anti-corruption activist warn Putin that 'if the crooks and thieves continue trying to deceive us and lie to us, we'll take power ourselves'. I met other key opposition leaders, such as former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov.
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