Protesters greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in a place where they are actually free to protest Vladimir Putin:  In Germany, where he was promoting Russian goods at a trade fair.

The protesters have issues with Putin’s deteriorating Human Rights record, especially last week’s raids on hundreds of foreign-funded Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Moscow and other cities.  The NGOs are often critical of Putin.  The Russian government is now requiring them to register as “foreign agents”, which when translated into Russian becomes the Stalin-era term used for enemy agents.

The raids have overshadowed Putin’s salesmanship of Russian raw materials for Germany’s industrial machine.  But German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure to bring up the human rights situation in her talks with Putin in Berlin.  Germans are also concerned with Russia’s support of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, while most of the West backs the rebels.

Putin is also planning to visit the Netherlands.  Germany and the Netherlands are Russia’s biggest trade partners in Europe.