A man stands near the square where Boris Nemtsov sympathisers have gathered to commemorate his memory. The man holds a poster that pictures two opposition figures, one of them corruption fighter Navalny. The subscript says "don't let them hoodwink you". I asked the man whether he would object to my taking a picture of him. He said no, but while I was taking the picture he kept his head bowed low so as to show his face less.

Maybe he was paid or forced to do this job, as many pro-government activists are. Maybe he was just not in the mood for a shot.

There are a couple of Russian police vehicles behind the man. At the autumn anti-war meeting, some of the policemen were jeering at the protesters - not in their face, but from afar: "look at those democrats, the flower of our intelligentsia" etc. At this meeting, they were much more subdued, and there were no "cossacks" booing the speakers and no pro-Putin youths joking at meeting members from behind the fence. At the conclusion of the meeting, the last speaker thanked the police for good work and we applauded.

One felt uneasy approaching the meeting place, since it had a diffuse ring of such persons posted here and there with their posters, implying that anyone who joins the meeting is either a fool hoodwinked by "West-paid traitors like Navalny" or is himself a "national traitor", in Putin's words.

There was not much ground for fearing a direct assault upon you. I haven't heard of persons being murdered or maimed for simply attending a meeting, as it was with Ukraine's protesters in the run-up to the revolution. No active titushki movement here.. yet.