RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – March 11, 2010
TODAY: Medvedev calls for LUKoil crash investigation; police force apologizes over human shield incident; Daghestan calls for dismissal of top investigator; Medvedev to form new political party? Protests across Russia as utility prices rise; Berezovsky wins libel case over poison allegations; hiring foreign teachers could be made easier.
President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the Interior Minister to investigate the fatal car crash involving a LUKoil vice president after an apparent police cover-up caused public outrage, a flood of online protests and an open letter signed by many public figures calling for an investigation. The Investigative Committee is looking into allegations that traffic police formed a human shield out of civilians’ cars last week. The head of Moscow’s police force has apparently issued an apology for the incident, which has been picked up by the Western press today. Daghestan police want the Kremlin to fire its top investigator for proposing to create a database containing the fingerprints of the entire North Caucasus population. Medvedev’s administration has reportedly been charged with the task of creating a new, ‘business-oriented‘ political party to rival United Russia.