Garry Kasparov noted that the organising committee included representatives of the National Assembly, the Union of Soviet Officers, the organisation ‘For Our Motherland’, the Avantgarde of Red Youth, and liberal youth organisations.

Speaking on 12 December at a press conference in the Independent Press Centre, organisers of the event emphasised that the «Dissenters’ March» would take place in realisation of article 31 of the RF Constitution, which proclaims that: «Citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to gather peacefully, without arms, to conduct gatherings, rallies and demonstrations, processions and picketing».

Participants of the press conference stressed that the Moscow authorities had refused to approve the application to hold the «March» on the pretext that other street events had already been planned to take place on Triumfal’naia Square. Eduard Limonov recounted that on 10 December members of the action’s organising committee had met with representatives of the Moscow authorities, who had proposed that the march be held on Taras Shevchenko Embankment – an essentially deserted area of the city. The oppositioners refused, since public events are conducted precisely with a view to attracting citizens’ attention, Limonov emphasised.

In Garry Kasparov’s opinion, the situation in Russia is set to deteriorate seriously in February-April 2009. The country is on the point of catastrophe; we can prevent it, the OGF leader said. During this period, in order to prevent the regime from crushing us all when it collapses, there must be institutions functioning which will give people the opportunity to express their will; there must be an absolutely rigorous democratic procedure in place to govern transformation of the system of power, he underlined.