MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The number of 'angry citizens' attending rallies in Moscow is on the decline, but there are 'opposition professionals' instead, ex-head of the Russian Presidential Administration's domestic policy department Konstantin Kostin said in an interview with Expert magazine.
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"The structure of participants changes from one action to another. That is a layer cake. There are opposition professionals, a core of several thousand activists. There are also angry citizens, whose number has been rapidly declining since December. There are such people, so-to-say the Moscow middle class, doctors, teachers," he said.

Kostin stopped working for the Presidential Administration in late May and headed the Civil Society Development Foundation.

"There were lots of such people, old Moscow intellectuals, in December. Their number is declining now. But there is a new large group - students. There were many people marching under the logos of their higher educational establishments in the latest action in Moscow. A new political question pops up - a war of fathers and children," Kostin said.

"There are many students in the Occupy movement. That is a new stratum, which says, "We are here, we are new politicians, we have our demands." These people shoo Nemtsov, Gudkov and other people who try to present themselves as the leaders of this movement," the expert said.

Russian Public Opinion Study Center presented a survey of opposition meetings several days ago. It said the main motive of the protesters is the need for self-realization, the protesters are getting younger, and their absolute leader is blogger Alexei Navalny.

Keywords: Russia, Politics, Protests - Russian News - Russia

MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The number of 'angry citizens' attending rallies in Moscow is on the decline, but there are 'opposition professionals' instead, ex-head of the Russian Presidential Administration's domestic policy department Konstantin Kostin said in an interview with Expert magazine.

"The structure of participants changes from one action to another. That is a layer cake. There are opposition professionals, a core of several thousand activists. There are also angry citizens, whose number has been rapidly declining since December. There are such people, so-to-say the Moscow middle class, doctors, teachers," he said.

Kostin stopped working for the Presidential Administration in late May and headed the Civil Society Development Foundation.

"There were lots of such people, old Moscow intellectuals, in December. Their number is declining now. But there is a new large group - students. There were many people marching under the logos of their higher educational establishments in the latest action in Moscow. A new political question pops up - a war of fathers and children," Kostin said.

"There are many students in the Occupy movement. That is a new stratum, which says, "We are here, we are new politicians, we have our demands." These people shoo Nemtsov, Gudkov and other people who try to present themselves as the leaders of this movement," the expert said.

Russian Public Opinion Study Center presented a survey of opposition meetings several days ago. It said the main motive of the protesters is the need for self-realization, the protesters are getting younger, and their absolute leader is blogger Alexei Navalny.