Russia Profile has an article today about Putin’s latest proclamations about the fight against corruption. Analysts quoted in the article say Putin’s strong words belie an effort to simply shift the blame to the “lower and middle rung of the power vertical”.

 “We need to eradicate this practice. We need to root it out,” Putin said. “If we keep these types of management techniques, there won’t be cheap housing in the country.” Putin said the federal government is prepared to apply pressure on all regional authorities to force them to fall in line.