National Bolshevik Party head, Eduard Limonov, is arrested. AFP
Just a year ago, Russia was awash in pride and money. Analysts talked of a new Russian Empire, or at the very least, greater Russian influence around the world.
Today, Russia is a mess, and it is increasingly apparent, Russia is a police state.
The global economic crisis has hit Russia particularly hard - Russian oil is selling for a third of what it did only a few short months ago and unemployment numbers, though hard to verify, appear to be skyrocketing.
So bad have things become, that even with limits on speech, protests swept Russia this weekend. Moscow in the west, and Vladivostok in the east - where protesters chanted, "Kremlin, we are against you" - were the two main flash points this weekend. While most of the protests were peaceful, several reports indicate police beatings and political arrests occurred.
Much of the anger is being directed Vladimir Putin, the country's prime minister, though Putin and much of the state media are directing blame for Russia's current economic woes at the United States.
So far the protests, which are made up mostly of radical leftists, communists, and anarchists, are relatively small compared to the numbers of unemployed; though, participants argue that Russia's 13 percent inflation rate portends much larger protests once spring arrives.
Video related to Russian police arresting dozens of demonstrators protesting against the government of Vladimir Putin
For more info: Thousands protest across Russia