The Protesters Putin Is Reluctant to Crush

On a recent Sunday the parking lot outside Mega, a giant shopping mall on the outskirts of Moscow, was packed with the cars of Christmas shoppers in their annual commercial frenzy. Towering above them, and looking somewhat out of place, were 14 large trucks decorated with protest banners.

“We want to feed our families, not oligarchs,” “Allow us to work,” and “Legitimized robbery,” the banners read. The truckers, hailing from Russia’s northwest, had set up camp three weeks earlier. They’re protesting a new road tax that they say benefits a family close to President Vladimir Putin. On the other side of the city there’s another protest, run by drivers from the southeast, and across the country there are a dozen more sites of trucker dissent.