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/ 3 March 2008

Medvedev vows to uphold Putin legacy

Russia’s next president Dmitry Medvedev pledged to uphold Vladimir Putin’s policies on Monday after a big election win that critics said was stage-managed to let the outgoing Kremlin leader keep his grip on power. Medvedev (42) who will be the youngest Russian leader since Tsar Nicholas II when he is sworn in on May 7, has asked former KGB spy Putin to be his prime minister.

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/ 2 March 2008

Russia’s Medvedev set for Presidency

Dmitry Medvedev was elected as Russia’s next president, early results showed on Sunday, after a vote that will preserve the power of his mentor President Vladimir Putin but which opponents said was unfair. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former lawyer who has worked at Putin’s side since the 1990s, will take over the trappings of the Presidency from his patron in May.

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/ 1 March 2008

Kremlin accused of fixing presidential poll

The Kremlin is planning to falsify the results of Sunday’s presidential election by compelling millions of public-sector workers to vote and by fraudulently boosting the official turnout, a media report said. Governors, regional officials and even headteachers have been instructed to deliver a landslide majority for Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister.

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/ 12 February 2008

The route of riches in Putin’s Moscow

When Vladimir Putin drives to work every morning from his presidential bungalow he doesn’t pass the poor, the needy or the hungry. Instead, he passes Gucci, Armani and Prada. In the unlikely event that his presidential Mercedes breaks down, he could pop into Barvikha Luxury Village, an elite shopping complex just down the road from Putin’s dacha.

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/ 9 February 2008

Russia downplays ‘arms-race’ comments

Russia did not want a revived arms race with the United States, and has been forced to start a new weapons programme in response to Washington’s planned missile shield in Europe, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Saturday. ”Russia had no intention of getting into an arms race. It is just a necessary response,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

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/ 2 February 2008

‘Undertaker’ close to power in Serbia

A former cemeteries manager known as the ”Undertaker” stands his best chance of becoming head of state when Serbia votes on Sunday in a fateful presidential election. To his many critics, the extreme nationalist Tomislav Nikolic will be digging Serbia’s grave if he repeats his first-round victory.

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/ 1 February 2008

Russia accuses Europe vote watchdog of ‘sabotage’

Russia accused Europe’s main election watchdog of trying to sabotage plans for monitoring its presidential election next month, the latest round of an increasingly bitter dispute with the West over democracy. Russia said the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s monitoring body, ODIHR, was trying to politicise monitoring of the March 2 election.

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/ 23 January 2008

Putin deploys new weapon — his judo master

He has been accused of bullying the neighbours, turning off Europe’s gas supply and — as one diplomat appalled by Russia’s treatment of the British Council put it — ”punching a librarian”. But now Putin, apparently fed up with Russia’s poor image abroad, has decided to do something about it: he has sent for his old judo master.

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/ 22 January 2008

Putin to revive Soviet muscle-flexing parade

It was one of the highlights of the Soviet calendar — a chance for the communist superpower to show off its military might and for ordinary citizens to check that their gerontocratic leaders were still alive. But 17 years after the last hammer-and-sickle tanks trundled through Red Square, the Kremlin is to revive the Soviet-era practice of parading its big weaponry.

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/ 16 January 2008

UK warns Russia after council staff summoned

Britain warned Russia on Wednesday that any attempt to intimidate staff of its cultural arm was ”completely unacceptable” after Russia’s state security service summoned local employees to speak to its officers. Britain’s consulate in St Petersburg said the British Council office in the northern city had been forced to shut temporarily.

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/ 20 December 2007

Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn

An unprecedented battle is taking place inside the Kremlin in advance of Vladimir Putin’s departure from office, with claims that the president presides over a secret multibillion-dollar fortune. Rival clans inside the Kremlin are embroiled in a struggle for the control of assets as Putin prepares to transfer power to his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev.

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/ 20 December 2007

Ministries clash on Russian bid to end gas flaring

A clash between ministries over how to stop Russia from flaring nearly -billion of gas each year is reinforcing doubts that the country can meet President Vladimir Putin’s goal to all but eliminate the waste by 2011. Some experts say Russia is also the leading flarer of gas, although by its own calculations it is only the second largest after Nigeria.

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/ 19 December 2007

Putin is Time magazine’s person of the year

Time magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin its person of the year for 2007 on Wednesday, saying he had returned his country from chaos to ”the table of world power” though at a cost to democratic principles. ”He’s not a good guy, but he’s done extraordinary things,” said Time managing editor Richard Stengel.

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/ 1 December 2007

Russia prepares to vote with all eyes on Putin

Final preparations were under way in Russia on Saturday for parliamentary elections expected to hand a sweeping victory to President Vladimir Putin’s party, just three months before presidential polls. From Kamchatka to Kaliningrad, 109-million voters are eligible to cast ballots on Sunday in Russia’s fifth parliamentary elections since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

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/ 30 November 2007

Putin suspends Russian adherence to arms treaty

President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law Russia’s suspension of a Cold War treaty limiting military forces in Europe as a senior lawmaker warned that other international accords could be reviewed. The signing came on the final day of campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday in which Putin has accused the West of trying to weaken Russia.

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/ 29 November 2007

Tycoon says $18,5m Fabergé egg a bargain

A Russian businessman with a passion for Tsarist treasures said on Thursday he was behind the record purchase of a Fabergé egg in London for £9-million (,5-million), which he called inexpensive. Alexander Ivanov, who helped found Russia’s first private museum, bid in person at the tense Christie’s auction in London on Wednesday for the egg.

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/ 26 November 2007

Putin accuses US of meddling in Russia vote

President Vladimir Putin accused Washington on Monday of plotting to undermine December parliamentary elections seen widely as a demonstration of his enduring power in Russia. Putin, drawing on resurgent nationalist sentiment ahead of Sunday’s poll, also said Russia must maintain its defences to discourage others from ”poking their snotty noses” in its affairs.

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/ 12 November 2007

Russia, India to team up for moon mission

The leaders of veteran allies Russia and India agreed on Monday to launch a joint unmanned mission to the moon, as well as to intensify deals on weapons and energy. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin called during Kremlin talks for boosting their countries’ traditional ties.

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/ 31 October 2007

Russian bus blast blamed on terrorists

A bomb on a bus in the Russian car-making city of Togliatti killed at least eight people and injured 50 on Wednesday in what authorities called a terrorist attack. The blast, which came as people travelled to work in the early-morning rush hour, was probably caused by a bomb hidden under the floor of the bus, police sources said.

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/ 31 October 2007

Major powers to meet on Iran this week

Major powers plan to meet in London this week to discuss new sanctions on Iran amid a spat between Washington and the United Nations over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, United States officials said on Tuesday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Tuesday that Iran would not retreat in the dispute.