Andrei Illarionov, the economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin who resigned yesterday, was one of the few Russian politicians the West could do real business with.
His dramatic departure just as Russia prepares to take over the presidency of the G8 group of rich nations on Sunday, looks designed to cause Mr Putin maximum discomfort.
Mr Ilarionov was the only Kremlin figure ready to criticise its more draconian policies in public. And he often made life uncomfortable for Mr Putin by questioning the Kremlin's decision to renationalise many of Russia's largest private industries.
Last week he declared Russia "no longer a democratic country, no longer a free country".
An ardent proponent of laissez-faire capitalism, Mr Illarionov won respect by helping to set the agenda that turned Russia's economy around at the beginning of the decade.
He consolidated his reputation as Mr Putin's "sherpa", or representative to ... >>full
In the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, an intoxicated young man shouting anti-Semitic slogans was detained on Friday as he tried to enter a synagogue, local media reported.
The 19-year-old youth came to the with a neck of broken bottle in his hand and threatened to stab the people who were in the building demanding meeting with the rabbi. Security guards alerted police. After a preliminary investigation, the man who neither works nor studies anywhere, has been jailed for five days for hooliganism and later faced similar charge.
During a questioning the hooligan said he was inspired by the Wednesday attack on Moscow synagogue, where Alexander Koptsev, 20, allegedly stabbed and wounded eight worshipers.
Koptsev has been already charged with racially motivated attempted murder, assault and actions aimed at humiliating national or religious ... >>full
Moscow, Russia (AHN) - A Russian economist who resigned as President Vladimir Putin's advisor in protest for what he calls the government's backtracking on freedoms is accusing the Kremlin of turning Russia into a "corporate" state run by self-interested bureaucrats.
Speaking on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio, Andrei Illariionov says Russia cannot be considered politically free.
He also warns that government controlled corporations have stifled competition and ignores the interests of the people.
In the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, an intoxicated young man shouting anti-Semitic slogans was detained on Friday as he tried to enter a synagogue, local media reported.
The 19-year-old youth came to the with a neck of broken bottle in his hand and threatened to stab the people who were in the building demanding meeting with the rabbi. Security guards alerted police. After a preliminary investigation, the man who neither works nor studies anywhere, has been jailed for five days for hooliganism and later faced similar charge.
During a questioning the hooligan said he was inspired by the Wednesday attack on Moscow synagogue, where Alexander Koptsev, 20, allegedly stabbed and wounded eight worshipers.
Koptsev has been already charged with racially motivated attempted murder, assault and actions aimed at humiliating national or religious ... >>full
Russia rejects West's criticism on democracy. 20/01/2006. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1551561.htm]
Last Update: Friday, January 20, 2006. 11:05am (AEDT) Russia rejects West's criticism on democracy
Russia has hit out at mounting criticism of its democratic record after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Moscow to live up to the West's expectations as this year's chair of the G8 group of industrialised democracies.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after talks with French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy, responded hotly to a journalist who asked the French Minister why he had not joined recent German and US criticism of Russia.
"For some reason, your French colleague asked if Philippe wanted to join the criticism of Russia and did not ask me if I wanted to join the criticism of the United States," Mr Lavrov said, after listing a series of problems in various Western countries.
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