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 Campaign groups, calling for everything from gay rights to
political reform, had complained that a ban on rallies imposed as
part of a security crackdown violated the constitution.
Putin amended his security decree on Friday to let groups hold
marches and gatherings in areas and along routes approved the
security services.
"Gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets, which are
not directly connected to the Olympic and Paralympic games, could be
staged on January7 — March 21 2014... only after agreeing with... a
local security body," the Kremlin said on Saturday.
No one was immediately available to comment on the change from human
rights organizations.
The restrictions were imposed in August amid security fears that
were heightened this week when two suicide bomb attacks killed at
least 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but they were a
reminder of the continuing threat posed by militants who want to
carve an Islamic state out of a swath of southern Russia that
includes Sochi.
Putin ordered a further security clamp-down and started a personal
inspection of the Olympic sites on Friday.
But there have also been signs he is trying to disarm Russia's
critics ahead of the Olympics, last month freeing several of the
country's best known prisoners: former oil tycoon Mikhail
Khodorkovsky and two members of the female punk group Pussy Riot.
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The authorities are hoping to use the Olympics to showcase how
Russia has changed since the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991
and the Games' success or failure will form a big part of Putin's
legacy.
He has closely identified himself with the $50 billion project, ever
since flying in person to Guatemala in 2007 to persuade Olympic
chiefs to award the event to Sochi.
Rights groups have criticized the treatment of migrant workers,
particularly on Olympic sites, and called for boycott over a law
banning the spread of "gay propaganda" among minors, saying it
violates basic freedoms.
Tens of thousands of peoples took to the streets of Moscow before
2012 elections to protest against what they saw as corruption by the
ruling elite.
A December opinion poll showed Putin's public approval rating fell
to its lowest level in more than 13 years against the backdrop of
high inflation and a weaker economy.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Andrew Heavens)
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