The ‘fizzling‘ outcome of weekend talks in the Kremlin with opposition parties about election fraud, and Dmitry Medvedev’s lip-service to the progress of democracy, ‘seemed to give credence to skeptics’ claims that the Duma walkout was a Kremlin-orchestrated affair,‘ says the Moscow Times.  Modernization in Russia is only impossible because oligarchs, wealthy Russians, and most of the ruling elite, aren’t interested, says Vladimir Ryzhkov.  His view is confirmed by an article by Kremlin Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov, saying that liberal reforms would cause Russia to collapse into chaos.  A Moscow architect’s claims that he wants to return the Kurskaya metro station to its original appearance by reinstating a monument to Stalin is not going down well with rights activists, so new plans have been devised to add a counter-balancing bit of verse praising Lenin.