In Campaign Against Putin, Opposites Attract

Azarova, 34, is a psychologist, intense, stylishly dressed, her hair a mass of wavy, blond curls. She helped organize parliament elections last year for Yabloko, one of Russia's leading pro-business, pro-democracy political parties.

Zimin drives an old military van around town and looks as if he could be her disapproving father. A former bus company director, Zimin, 58, is a member of the local Communist Party council. He is as far to the left of the political spectrum as Azarova is to the right.

In normal times, Azarova and Zimin would be working overtime trying to figure out how to obstruct each other. On Friday, though, they were having lunch at the fashionable Petrozavodsk Cafe, recounting the joint protest actions, pamphleteering and lobbying campaigns they have undertaken in recent months through a formal agreement of cooperation.

Their common target, for the moment, is the increasingly authoritarian government of President Vladimir V. Putin, which has marginalized both ends of the political spectrum through strict controls on the broadcast media and tight limits on who can run for office.

On Dec. 5, the Communist Party and Yabloko brought 4,000 people into the streets in a joint rally against recent government cuts in social benefits. Yabloko supporters in the business community provide the cash to print leaflets that are distributed by hundreds of rank-and-file Communist volunteers -- who are "more disciplined," Azarova said. And a Yabloko-run newspaper provides printing facilities for the Communist Party journal.

"If I would have been told about this in the past, I never would have believed it," Azarova admitted. "It's like a fairy tale, this cooperation. You take one twig, you join it with another twig. So together, it's easier to oppose the authorities in the region. We unite our resources with their resources."

Today, more than 1,200 pro-democracy opposition leaders from across Russia will convene in Moscow for a similar exercise in cooperation. For the first time, the Communists will send up to 15 unofficial representatives to join the proceedings.

With neighboring Ukraine in the middle of a popular uprising that succeeded in mandating new, fair presidential elections, a spotlight is also shining next door on the long-divided and ineffective political opposition in Russia. Democracy activists here are hoping the events in Ukraine will inspire a popular backlash against Putin's centralization of power and clampdown on political dissent.