Putin to be inaugurated for fourth term as Russian president with lavish ceremony in former tsars' throne room

Protests and mass arrests took place over weekend ahead of ceremony, with demonstrators chanting 'not our tsar'

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on (AFP/Getty)

Vladimir Putin is set to begin his fourth term as Russian president on Monday when he is inaugurated in a ceremony at the Kremlin. In 2024, if he completes the six-year term, he will have ruled over the country for almost a quarter of a century.

The ceremony itself was set to be more low-key than Mr Putin's last, in 2012, which was marred by mass protests. Demonstrations have already taken place across Russia over the weekend and more were expected later on Monday.

RT, the state broadcaster, said Mr Putin would be inaugurated in the lavish setting of the Kremlin's great Andreevsky Hall, the former throne room of Imperial Russia.

And it is to Russia's former emperors, the tsars, that Mr Putin has been compared by his critics. "Not our tsar" ranked high among the chants at an illegal anti-Putin rally on Saturday in Moscow led by opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny.

The protests resulted in the arrests of more than 1,500 demonstrators across Russia, including Mr Navalny himself, who said on Sunday that the actions were worthwhile even though he faces another possible stretch in jail.

Mr Navalny was arrested in Moscow's Pushkin Square along with hundreds of other demonstrators protesting Mr Putin's inauguration. He said he has been charged with organising an unauthorised meeting and of resisting police. Each of those charges can carry a jail sentence of 15 days.

He is to appear in court on the charges on Friday.

OVD-Info, an organisation that monitors Russian political arrests, said at least 1,575 people were arrested in demonstrations in 26 cities across Russia.

It was not clear how many remained in custody by the end of the weekend, although the presidential human rights council said about 80 percent of 658 detainees in Moscow had been released.

Amnesty International called the arrests and beatings of some Russian protesters "outrageous."

Despite the arrests, Mr Navalny termed the protests "a great success."

"Putin is coming into a fifth term and wants to demonstrate to all that 'I am the owner of this country and I will eat everything here; those who do not support me sit quietly and do not dare to make a squeak'," Mr Navalny said on his website.

"But we showed that, no, it won't be this way for you; you are not the only one here and you will not frighten us," he said.

Mr Putin is preparing to begin his fourth term as Russian president. Mr Navalny's characterisation of him beginning a fifth term refers to Mr Putin's being prime minister in 2008-12. He was barred by the constitution from seeking a third consecutive term as president, but was widely regarded as remaining the country's leader while Dmitry Medvedev filled the chair in the Kremlin.

Mr Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who has become Mr Putin's most prominent and determined foe, has served several weeks-long jail terms for organising protests.

His detractors characterise Mr Navalny's support as coming from a small, urbanised core. But over the past year, Mr Navalny has spearheaded several nationwide protests that suggest he has support in far-flung parts of the country.

Additional reporting by AP