nationalpost:

Putin accuses U.S. of inciting Russian protests: Clinton gave ‘a signal’
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of stirring up protests against his 12-year rule and said foreign countries were spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence Russian elections.

In his first public remarks about daily demonstrations over allegations that Sunday’s election was slanted to favour his ruling party, Putin said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had encouraged Kremlin opponents by criticizing the vote.

“She set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work,” Putin told supporters as he laid out plans for his campaign to return to the presidency in a March election. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)