Some 120,000 to join Thursday rallies in Moscow

Some 10,000 police officers will be deployed to Moscow streets during the demonstrations, Moscow police said in a statement.

Putin supporters will march along the Frunzenskaya Embankment in central Moscow before gathering at Moscow's Luzhniki Arena at 1 pm local time (09:00 GMT). The demonstration, which was authorized for 100,000 people, is expected to last until 2.30 pm (10:30 GMT).

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov has not ruled out that the prime minister may address his supporters with a speech during the demonstration.

Members of Putin's United Russia party are also expected to attend the rally, which was jointly organized by Putin's election staff and his All-Russia People's Front movement.

Another rally, organized by TV anchor Sergei Kurginyan, will take place on Thursday at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in north-eastern Moscow. Its participants will protest against what they call "Orange threat" facing Russia, referring to the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, one of the so-called color uprisings that rocked former Soviet republics in the 2000s.

Kurginyan followers believe that the leaders of recent "For Fair Elections" protests in Russia are foreign-backed revolutionaries, who, according to Kurginyan, "don't need honest elections any longer and will not recognize the results of the March 4 presidential polls in any case."

Only 7,000 people were allowed to attend the rally, while some 13,500 have signed up on social networks to join it.

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