RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Sept 7, 2010
TODAY: Election watchdog warns of dirty electioneering; Putin’s Valdai Club soundbites hit the press; Luzhkov backs Khimki road; company deforests St Petersburg lake resort; singer summoned to explain inflammatory lyrics; Afghanistan, Israel; a return to Soviet conditions?
Independent election watchdog Golos says that United Russia is already involved in ‘dirty electioneering‘ ahead of next month’s regional elections, and that typical voter response is ‘apathy‘. Nikolai Petrov suggests that opposition candidates could do well in October, and explores the likelihood that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will seek to adopt a new political model to win back voters. Putin’s various PR displays are not for savvy, urban Russians, says The Guardian, but for regional citizens ‘not connected to the internet‘. Putin’s comments at the Valdai Club have reached the press today, with newspapers certain that his comparing himself to Roosevelt means that he is preparing for another presidential term: ‘US President Roosevelt was voted in four times in a row because this did not contradict the American constitution.‘ His other comments are also making headlines: reassuring Russians that China is not a threat and that relations are strong; asserting that US President Barack Obama is ‘sincere‘ in his relations with Russia; promising that the 2012 presidential elections would reveal no ‘shocks‘, and that he would not interfere in the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.