The Moscow Times’ Olga Razumovskaya is one the commentators to have remarked upon Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin’s unusual espousing of political reform at the end of last week.  The Minister told the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum that only ‘just and fair’ elections ‘will give the mandate of trust that is necessary to undertake economic reforms’.  A feat of courage from the hardened technocrat? Or an artful distraction from other economic woes?  And will it be noticed?  Here’s her take:

Kudrin’s election-related comments seemed to have been swept under the carpet by state-owned media, which downplayed the minister’s comments in their reporting.

“This just shows the level of independence of our press,” said Lilia Shibanova, executive director of Golos, a Russian watchdog promoting fair elections.

“There is internal censorship among the editors, who chose to avoid the issue,” said Shibanova, who first saw the news on the Internet and reposted it on the organization’s blog.