August 6, 2008 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 6, 2008

060808.jpgTODAY: Former mayor of Stavropol linked to A Just Russia to be charge with theft; newspaper editor flees Russia; Medvedev trying to weaken Sechin?; Russian gang infect computer networks; mourners visit Solzhenitsyn’s coffin; Kremlin “offended” by US; South Ossetia conflict escalating; Olympic team denies systematic doping allegations. Dmitry Kuzmin, the former mayor of Stavropol, is to be charged with stealing $810,000 after being arrested in Austria, having fled Russia nine months ago. Kuzmin’s links with A Just Russia, the opposition party, have led some to suspect that the charges have a political component. Roza Malsagova, the editor-in-chief of an independent online newspaper in Ingushetia “which frequently airs opposition views” has fled Russia and will seek political asylum in Europe after a number of criminal cases were launched against her. Some see Dmitry Medvedev’s recent comments about state institutions “terrifying businesses” as the President’s attempt to “weaken powerful Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Putin’s gray cardinal and the bete noire of Russia’s liberals.” A security expert is alleging that a criminal gang in Russia is using software tools to infect thousands of PCs in corporate and government networks.