This feels vaguely familiar.

MOSCOW – Moscow’s police chief questioned Wednesday whether civil liberties are even practical when authorities need to keep law and order, the latest sign that ethnic tensions in Russia could lead to new democratic rollbacks.

His remarks backed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s comments on a possible restoration of strict Soviet era-restrictions on movement into big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg, a move that seems to target dark-complexioned people in the Caucasus.

Kremlin critics say ethnic tensions are being deliberately fanned as a pretext to introduce repressive legislation ahead of Russia’s 2012 presidential election. They say the measures floated by authorities could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.

Moscow’s police chief says the protests were easier to control when people couldn’t move freely and unrestricted throughout the country. President Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, says protesters should get a mandatory prison sentence rather than a fine and/or warning.

Suppression of protests, locking up dissidents, stopping people from moving freely between cities, putting Kremlin-supported politicians in office…does any of this sound a little familiar? Thought so.