Democracy would be calamitous for Russia: this is the message we are hearing today from chief Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov, via Reuters.  Certainly, we can concur, there’s nothing like democracy to wreck a highly tuned and iron wrought power vertical, of which Surkov is seen as a founding father.

In a rare interview in Itogi magazine, published yesterday, the Kremlin’s media-shy “Grey Cardinal” stepped out of the shadows to rebuff calls for democratic reforms, precipitated by the election results falsification outcry.  Such measures, he argues, would impede economic development and provoke nation-imperiling instability.  The good news is that apparently Russia doesn’t need a Pinochet.  Small blessings.

“Even now when power is rather consolidated and ordered, many projects are very slow and difficult,” Surkov was quoted as saying by the Itogi weekly magazine.

“If we add any sort of political instability to that then our development would simply be paralyzed. There would be a lot of demagoguery, a lot of empty talk, a lot of lobbying and ripping Russia to pieces, but no development.”