Vladimir Putin inaugurated as Russian president amid Moscow protests

Putin sworn in as riot police, backed by armoured cars, empty streets of protesters and detain more than 100

Vladimir Putin heads for his inauguration in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Photograph: Dmitry Astakhov/AP

Walking a long red carpet through gilded doors, Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency on Monday in an inauguration fit for a king.

Followed by police motorcycles, Putin sped in a black Mercedes through streets that had been emptied of people. There were no protesting – or adoring – crowds for him to see or be seen by. He made the journey to the Kremlin silently and alone.

There was no mention on the three state television channels of the hundreds of anti-Putin protesters who roamed the streets of Moscow, hoping to outmanoeuvre the riot police who had been called in to quash them.

Putin looked sombre as he stepped from the limousine on to a red carpet that extended for many hundreds of feet up marble staircases, round sharp corners and through heavy doors dripping with gold. When at last he reached the Kremlin's ornate Andreyevsky Hall, he was greeted by 3,000 applauding guests.

Military officers stood alongside cabinet ministers and priests. Mikhail Gorbachev was there, as was Boris Yeltsin's widow, Naina. Foreign guests were few, the most notable being Putin's longtime friends Silvio Berlusconi and the former chancellor of Germany Gerhard Shröder. Most surprising for many was the appearance of Putin's rarely seen wife, Lyudmila. Wearing a white skirt-suit, she grimaced throughout the ceremony, swaying back and forth.

The outgoing president, Dmitry Medvedev, spoke first. He was later nominated by Putin as the country's new prime minister, fulfilling the duo's promise to switch roles in what some Russians have likened to a "castling" move in chess.

"The inauguration of a new president always marks a new stage in our country's life and history," Medvedev said, making no mention of Putin's two previous terms as president. "Continuity in the country's policy is essential for Russia to keep moving forward."

Medvedev praised his own achievements, highlighting citizens' increased involvement in civic life and the authorities' "openness for dialogue and co-operation".

At that moment, less than one mile from the Kremlin, riot police moved in to arrest dozens of protesters for shouting "Russia without Putin!" and wearing the opposition movement's white ribbon symbol.

Putin then took the presidency, gravely placing his hand on a red bound copy of the constitution and swearing to "respect and protect human and civil rights and freedoms" and "the sovereignty and independence, security and integrity of the state".

In a short speech, Putin declared that "the whole point and purpose of my life is serving our fatherland and our people". In perhaps the only acknowledgement of the fissures in Russian society that followed the announcement of his intention to return to the presidency, he urged unity.

"We want to live and we will live in a democratic country," Putin said.

Putin shook hands with dozens of well-wishers in the crowd as he walked away to his next engagement, the receipt of the "nuclear suitcase" containing the codes to Russia's powerful nuclear arsenal, a symbol of presidential might. Thirty cannons fired a sustained salute, before Putin entered the Kremlin's church-filled courtyard, greeting the military officers waiting to parade for him with a hearty: "Hello comrades!"

With the official and militaristic parts of the ceremony over, Putin and his wife retired for a private prayer with Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A lavish party is reported to have followed, with 5,000 bottles of champagne as well as vodka, caviar, Kamchatka crab and other Russian delicacies.

Clashes continued around Moscow as the dinner began. Thousands of riot police, backed by armoured cars, poured through the streets of the city as protesters attempted to outrun them.

More than 100 people were detained, including protest leader Boris Nemtsov, who was also briefly detained at a violent protest on Sunday. Many of the more than 400 people arrested at that protest remained in prison. Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov were released after being ordered to pay a small fine.

In a new twist, riot police began targeting cafes frequented by Russia's opposition. As the inauguration began, they stormed the central Jean-Jacques cafe, overturning outdoor tables and grabbing patrons, seemingly at random.

"France gets a new president, and we get this," said Irina Yelenina, 50, as riot police closed in on protesters near Jean-Jacques. "It's very scary."

One Russian uploaded a video to social networks of riot police storming another café on Sunday night and grabbing a patron.

Riot police also roamed the streets in the Chistie Prudi neighbourhood grabbing anyone wearing a white ribbon. Several of the young men detained on Sunday and Monday took to Twitter to write that after being arrested, they had been ordered to report for military service.

Valery Astanin, a member of the Moscow army draft board, confirmed the strategy to Interfax news agency: "There were more than 100 young people of draft age among those detained by law enforcement, including more than 70 who have long avoided the military draft."

Many Muscovites bribe their way out of Russia's military service, obligatory for men aged between 18 and 27, because of the army's notorious hazing rituals and poor living conditions.

Officials continued to downplay the protests. "I don't see a link between these incidents and the situation in the country as a whole," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russia Today. "What I saw was a bunch of marginal people."