TENS OF THOUSANDS of people braved sub-zero temperatures to gather in Moscow today and protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s continued rule.

Putin, who twice served as the country’s president, is running again for the presidency in next month’s elections.

Despite temperatures dipping as low as -20C today, the peaceful anti-Putin protest in downtown Moscow appears to have generated more support than two rallies held in December. Organisers claimed that over 120,000 people showed up for today’s demonstration at a city square across the river from the Kremlin.

Putin is still favoured to win the election, despite growing public opposition following the December parliamentary election in which his party won, but was accused of election fraud. Putin rejected calls for a rerun of the December ballot, but said that the presidential election on 4 March should be transparent and fair.

Meanwhile, a smaller crowd of around 20,000 gathered at a separate rally in support of the Russian prime minister.