Russia's Putin faces protests, monitors' criticism

Thousands of protesters chanting "Russia without Putin" took to the streets of Moscow and St Petersburg on Monday to challenge Vladimir Putin's victory in a presidential election which international monitors said was unfair.

Putin, who secured almost 64 percent of votes on Sunday, portrayed his return for a third term as president as a strong mandate to deal with the protests although the Kremlin made some conciliatory moves towards the opposition that were ignored.