Protesters in the Siberian city of Tomsk carry a giant effigy of Vladimir Putin as a puppet master.
The protesters are unhappy at what they see as vote-rigging by Mr Putin's party at December's parliamentary elections. They are worried that the same thing will happen in Sunday's presidential election.
Communists rally in the Siberian city of Tomsk ahead of Sunday's presidential election in Russia.
In Tomsk winter temperatures can plummet to -40 degrees Centigrade. The city is nearly 2000 miles from Moscow.
In Tomsk State University students say they are disillusioned by the election process and unhappy with the choice of candidates.
The tables were turned on Bridget Kendall as she was interviewed by Russian state television in Tomsk. They wanted to know why people in Britain had such a negative view of Russian democracy.
Aspiring youth politician Anna Rhyzhova argues that Russia could see the same violence and disorder seen following the Arab Spring "We have to be open for change, but these changes should not be too radical or too quick."
The remote Siberian town of Strezhevoy is at the centre of the Russian oil industry.
"We never get any pay rises and all the money goes to Moscow," complains oil worker Sergei. "I won't be voting for Putin."
Alexei is an economist working in the oil industry. He's grateful to Vladimir Putin for providing him with grants to help support his family of four boys.
The people of Strezhevoy live and work in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. But the beauty of the Siberian winter is some compensation.
Strezhevoy was a place of punishment during the Soviet era. A handful of very old people remain, decades on from their exile.
Mina Merger is an ethnic German, who was 16 when she was transported from her home in the Volga region of Russia to Siberia as the German army advanced on Stalingrad in 1942.
"We were told we would be provided for," says Mina of her exile 70 years ago. "But there was nowhere to live and my sister and I had to share a pair of boots in the harsh winter."
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