MOSCOW — Russia’s opposition parties are bracing for new massive weekend rallies against election fraud following Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s rejection of protesters’ demands for a rerun.

Several parties and groups — which last weekend staged a rally that drew tens of thousands to a square across the river from the Kremlin to protest fraud in the Dec. 4 parliamentary election — have scheduled a follow-up rally Saturday.

Putin, speaking Thursday in a marathon call-in TV show, insisted that the vote results reflected the people’s will and dismissed the protesters as Western stooges.

Putin, who has consistently marginalized the opposition and tightened election rules during his 12-year rule, also promised some moves toward liberalization, but the opposition dismissed it as an attempt to deflect public anger.