You do realize that Kasparov has some 3% of the population backing him, none of the other opposition parties would ally themselves with him and his entire plan for the nation of Russia is summed up in him giving interviews for Western media name calling Putin and telling the West how dumb Russians are. Except for the left intelligencia (and a small percentage of them at that) no one supports him. Khodorkovsky has a better pull, at 4% then Kasparov and he's in jail.
No one realistically expects Kasparov to win, or even garner a substantial portion of the vote.
He will be crushed, and not even his most enthusiastic supporters-or even he himself-is insinuating otherwise.
Russians are still in thrall to a profoundly complacent, apathetic mindset.
That brief efflorescence of freedom that occurred in 1991-under Boris Yeltsin-was evanescent.
NTV is gone, the last independent reporter for Izvestiya is gone, and there are virtually no remaining broad-based channels for dissent.
The Russians have returned to the time of Samizdat, and subterranean outlets used by refuseniks to voice dissent from the diktats of the ruling regime.
Whether or not Khasnayov, or Kasparov, or Yavlinsky, or any other opposition leader is properly equipped to do battle with the forces of revanchism and blind allegiance to Putin's autocratic tendencies-and I'm not disputing your assertion that they aren't-is entirely beside the point.
People today-even ex-KGB agents such as Putin-love to valorize the achievements of heroic figures like Solzhenitsyn, Sharansky, Sakharov, Nureyev; cultural, religious, and political dissidents all.
They hail the same individuals that were mercilessly persecuted by their predecessors.
Let me tell you, this idea that they were supported by a silent majority of Russians is complete and utter bunkum.
They were not only a numerical minority, but they were a minority in terms of opinion.
Most people living in the Soviet Union-unfortunately-were reconciled to their misery, lest they provoke an even more harsh reality at the hands of the USSR's internal security apparatus.
The Mitrokhin Archive is illustrative in this regard.
It explores just how successful the KGB-domestic thought police-and FCD-international branch-were in eradicating political opposition with ruthless efficacy.
The sad truth is that, prior to Glastnost and Perestroika-and the arrival of Gorbachev on center stage-Yuri Andropov had almost completely eliminated any significant internal dissent, save for a few implacable religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses.
This is a perpetual struggle, in which men like Kasparov will ALWAYS be in the distinct minority.
That does not make their fight any less worthy, or mean that their efforts should be denigrated.