7.

“The Other Russia,” an opposing political party, organized several protest marches led by Garry Kasparovand and Eduard Limonov. Protesters in several Russian cities were met by police action, which interfered with the travel of the activists and led to over 150 detentions.

8.

On 31 December 1999 Putin signed the First Presidential Decree which guarantees no charges of corruption could be brought against the outgoing president or his family. In 2000, two different criminal investigation cases in which Putin himself was suspect were dropped in spite of mountains of evidence. A new federal law with similar characteristics was signed by Putin in 2001 to replace the decree of 1999.