Gudkovs, bad cops

AT FIRST glance, Gennady Gudkov does not look like an anti-Putin protester. He is 55, with an imposing frame and a thick moustache. In Soviet days he was a KGB lieutenant-colonel. For nearly a decade, he has been a deputy in Russia's Duma, not known for being an obstreperous institution.

Yet Mr Gudkov and his 32-year-old son, Dmitry, who is also a deputy for Just Russia (pictured above) are now among the most visible leaders of Russia's opposition. Last November Mr Gudkov warned that fraud in the Duma elections would lead people to protest. “Even a rabbit driven into a corner can turn into a beast,” he said. When stories of falsification duly led to mass protests, father and son voiced caustic criticism of Vladimir Putin's government both in the streets and in the Duma.