It’s a pretty good question: why on earth would Russia seek to ban, limit or otherwise obstruct international election monitors if the incumbent party were expected to win a landslide election anyways? Is this just a stubborn demonstration of sovereignty, or is the Kremlin actually afraid that the carefully managed election could be compromised and that the “referendum on Putin’s Plan” might actually fail? Russia Profile asks Stephen Blank, Ethan S. Burger, Eugene Kolesnikov, and Andrei Seregin what they think of that question. We all know what kind of outfit Russia Profile is (just take a look at the Lugovoi banner ads for government-sponsored Russia Today), but I include Burger’s response below for those interested.