following 还是 followed by

Putin returned to the Kremlin for a third term as president in 2012 following mass street protests against his rule in a country he has dominated as head of state or prime minister since the final day of 1999.

怎么觉得应该用followed by呢？

following是Putin的动作在mass street protests之后
所以有时候following可以理解为引起的意思，或者表示伴随，取决整体关系

followed by是指Putin的动作在mass street之前

所以要看你要表达的意思来决定

都不是， 而是：follows 说明： as follows 是个固定短语， 其形式不可更改。 解释： as follows   列举如下 1. he wrote as follows. 他所写如下。 2. the reaction process is as follows. 该反应过程如下。

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