Nikolai Zobin in today's Moscow Times laments that President Medvedev persistently highlights the level of corruption in Russia, whilst, by all accounts, the problem of graft has increased during his Presidency. (See yesterday's 'corruption blast' for the latest examples).  When the President is nominally one of the most powerful men in Russia, why is it that Medvedev seems incapable of transforming word into deed? Deeds, such as, quite simply, firing people:After all, Medvedev is not only the president of all Russians -- he is the leader of all bureaucrats, who act as his representatives at every level government. He is the only person in the country who has the power to remove anybody at any time. ...

TODAY: United Russia sweep polls at regional elections; accusation of vote-rigging fly.  Mitvol receives unusual delivery.  Medvedev had no time for Yushchenko at CIS summit; positive on Obama's peace prize; Ecuador looking for weapons deals?; Russia bids to host World CupWith almost 90% of the votes counted in Moscow, the city's election Committee has reported that the United Russia party has garnered 66.10% of the vote, with the Communist Party coming in second at 13.28%, sufficient for three seats in the 35-member chamber.  Vladimir Putin's party is apparently likely to have dominated in other regions.  The Guardian reports on allegations of vote-rigging; talk of which has seen leading opposition candidates scorn Medvedev's promise to uphold ...

TODAY: Third anniversary of the killing of Anna Politkovskaya; Kadyrov wins his lawsuit against Memorial, launches another.  Gay marriage bid rejected; critical posters displayed around Moscow.  Medvedev gets his new speech writer; no independence recognition trade-off with Turkey; Russia denies its scientists are helping Iran with bomb.Three years on from the slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta editor Sergei Sokolov says that new suspects have emerged in the murder case.  Russia has denied visas to two members of Reporters without Borders, who planned a trip to Russia for the anniversary of the journalist's death.  The move has been criticized by her son Ilya Politkovskaya.  K. Anthony Appiah in the Washington Post laments the fact that in Russia ...

TODAY: 1998 Starovoitova murder case to be reopened; Moscow city Duma election opposition candidates outraged; Nashi vs Nemtsov thrown out of court.  Lavrov positive on reset; new police chief; Moscow mayor to fight weather.According to Bloomberg, Russia has reopened the investigation into the 1998 murder of lawmaker and human rights activist Galina Starovoitova as new evidence has appeared.  The assassinated activist's assistant, Ruslan Linkov, who was also injured in the attack which killed her, has suggested that the reopening may be to do with an appeal sent by himself and Starovoitova's sister to President Medvedev in July.  An independent election-monitoring group has criticized election officials for preventing all but one opposition candidate to stand in next ...

Recently someone left a comment on one of my blog entries, prompting me to respond to address two questions:  "Why do many Russians love the power? Under what circumstances might the Putinite siloviki ever go down?"

First let's take a look at what some other Russians have to say about this:

Political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky:  "In a closed society, such as today's Russian one is, and in conditions of the complete depoliticization of the Russian population, which the ruling elite has been striving for for the duration of the last 15 years, - we recall that already at the beginning of the 90s the idea had become popular that the people need to be eliminated from politics and then the country will

...

A few days ago the Russian mainstream media were talking about all the agreements reached with Turkey during the most recent visit of the Prime Minister, hailing the accords as the latest Putinite achievement. Supposedly positive but vague results were achieved with respect to negotiations on the construction of the South Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines; on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, as well as the construction of nuclear power stations. In covering the Turkey visit, they showed the joy of Turkish and Italian prime ministers in signing these deals, and the unintelligible babble of the Russian one, who was able to clearly express a thought about how the Turks - are "difficult negotiators."

But so many gas pipelines -

...

When I'm abroad, I often get asked who of the leaders of the Russian opposition I think stands out in some way. Usually I name Boris Nemtsov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Ryzhkov. In doing so I always reiterate that I am not a political scientist, not a specialist, not an expert, and god knows not some kind of maven on the subject of Russian political reality... My opinion, it is absolutely subjective, as such I'll explain some of my perspectives before getting into this interview, so the reader knows what they are getting.

Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда.

Personal impressions play a role: I am acquainted with Vladimir

...

Nobody to keep him under surveillance?

Grigory Pasko, journalist

Boris Nemtsov doesn't have any guesses as to who attached a mobile telephone with a tracking function underneath his car. And I don't either. Nor do you, I'll warrant. Or Putin, for that matter. An enigmatic country, enigmatic inhabitants with enigmatic souls... It's hard to get concrete about something like this. Boris and I met on Thursday: I was listening to his answers to my questions and thinking: he's young, he's smart, he's experienced, obviously not suitable to be a slick lackey of the powers or dictators. This is the kind of people who should be running the country. And then I thought:

...

TODAY: Russia warns against US joining monitoring in Georgia; Lavrov unfazed by Biden's comments. US says Russia could still join NATO.  Ambassador to Britain claims no legal basis for British Council activities in Moscow. Moldova election kicks off.  Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said that Georgia's movements on the frontier with South Ossetia and Abkhazia are 'categorically inflating political and military hysteria'.  A high-ranking diplomat has said that including the US in monitoring missions in Georgia would be 'extremely harmful' and would raise 'the likelihood of border provocations,' as well as endangering the reset.   Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has downplayed Joe Biden's 'Bush-like' comments as 'not normative', saying that US voters who ...

TODAY: Russia willing to revive European Arms Control treaty; IOC praises Sochi but says task must not be underestimated; Russia pledges help to Abkhazia and South Ossetia; policemen on trial Russia has proposed a new version of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and believes that 'chances to revive the treaty', which it suspended over a year ago, 'still exist'.  The original 1990 treaty imposed limitations on troop and weaponry movement to the West of the Ural mountains, a restriction Putin likened to the U.S. having 'to seek Russian approval before it sent troops from California to Texas'.  The OSCE has ceased talks on keeping peace monitors in Georgia after Russia vetoed its proposals, but is apparently hoping that the Kremlin will ...