The Wall Street Journal. Russia reins in opposition figure

The house arrest of a top opposition leader over the weekend signals what Kremlin critics are calling the toughest move yet in the government's broad but incremental tightening of control over Russia's protest movement.

Kremlin critic Sergei Udaltsov was ordered confined to his home Saturday without access to Internet or telephone and forbidden to communicate with anyone except his family or lawyers.

Speaking before the order was issued, Mr. Udaltsov called it the latest in a series of small steps that the Kremlin hopes will pass unnoticed in Russia and the west but that are silencing Russia's opposition.