From the official numbers and down to the individual protesters, reports are surfacing that yesterday's 25,000-person strong Pro-Putin rally in Moscow was really all a sham.  “I don’t have a clue why I’m here,” one Putin "supporter" told The New York Times, while another said she was forced to be there. "We’re supposed to make up the masses," said the woman who identified herself as an accountant for Putin's United Russia party. Those two were part of yesterday's rally, which The Times describes as being "not even close to the 25,000 people the authorities later said attended." Russian papers and news agencies confirm the sparse attendance, putting that number closer to 5,000.  And these twit pics from Russian blogger Roustem Adagamov shows what "25,000 people" look like to Russian officials:

We're no experts on people-counting or estimations. But you'd think people being accused of pumping numbers in electoral fraud, might want to steer clear of giving everyone more evidence that they're capable of number manipulation and drudging up fake supporters.

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Alexander Abad-Santos