President of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, has called on the authorities to hold a new election, citing electoral irregularities and ballot box stuffing. He criticized Vladimir Putin and the United Russia political party for violating peoples human rights and for not ruling the country in a proper Democratic fashion. During the next major round of demonstrations that occurred on 24 December, he called on Putin to resign.