Since Putin became Russia's undisputed leader, he has rapidly eliminated critique and dissent. The Kremlin has tens, or hundreds, of thousands of sheep capable of endlessly bleating "Putin and Medvedev are good, the opposition is bad." For hundreds of years Russia has known no other rules, making every resident mimic the pattern of elite behavior no matter how much money he had or didn't have. Together they stole, and stole big, throughout the history of the country.

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The new party would be headed by Tatyana Dyachenko, daughter of Russia's late president Boris Yeltsin, who is making a comeback into public life. The new party would replace the defunct Right Cause (Pravoe Delo) project and would promote President Dmitry Medvedev's idea for modernising Russia's economy.

Russia's ruling United Russia party, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has called another meeting of its "liberal wing," which will bring together representatives of Russian business and culture. Sources in the presidential administration say that the gathering will serve as the launchpad for the new right-wing party.

http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2010/03/16/focus/464694

A recent week in Moscow left one clear impression: The Putin model of crony state capitalism is dead. For years, the structure that Vladimir Putin crafted looked invincible, with its steady, high growth rates and effective, mild repression. But the system only distributed ample oil rents to the elites and the ordinary people, creating neither moral nor economic value", says Anders Åslund in a column in The Washington Post.

There are, however, positive signs of a thaw, he concludes: "Russians are becoming less afraid than in recent years and are even ashamed of their prior cowardice. Those jumping on the bandwagon include the respected finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, who publicly criticized Putin's United Russia party, and Sergei Mironov, the Putin loyalist who chairs the Russian Federation Council.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR20100225048...

Two extreme right activists were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the human rights lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, and the anti-fascist journalist, Anastasia Baburova. It turned out that the two arrested, Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis, were close to the far-right nationalist organisations, Russky Verdikt ("Russian Verdict") and Russky Obraz ("Russian Character"), which were encouraged and directed from the Kremlin. Both far-right activists and anti-fascists regard Russky Obraz clearly as a Kremlin-led project.

Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the SOVA Center, predicted a sharp reaction to the arrests of Tikhonov and Khasis. Indeed, soon after the arrests, Neo-Nazis murdered the anti-fascist activist, Ivan Khutorskoy. Following the murder, the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article tarnishing Khutorskoy's image. The daily's political editor, Dmitry Steshin, was personally acquainted with Khutorskoy's suspected killers. The Kremlin is said to use Komsomolskaya Pravda to spin its talking points and to "dumb down" the masses.

Read the original article (in Russian) on News Facts Analysis: http://bit.ly/7wXURH

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has given the country's business elite right to attend government sessions. Putin made the decision at a meeting with Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), on 11 January 2010.

Putin noted that Mikhail Shmakov, Chairman of the [pro-Kremlin] Federation of Independent Trade Unions, regularly attends cabinet meetings. “Perhaps, for the sake of fairness, it would not be a bad idea to invite businesses as well,” Shokhin asked. Putin's reply was short: “I agree.”

RSPP participation in government meetings could be just the beginning of better interaction between business and power. The possibility of an increase of power of the wealthy raises some fears of a return to the situation in the 1990s when oligarchs ruled the day in Russia.

http://rt.com/Politics/2010-01-12/business-elite-government-meeting.html/print

Сопоставление рейтинговых таблиц за 2009 и 2008 годы показывает, что российская правящая элита отличается очень высокой стабильностью. Лидером годового рейтинга является глава правительства РФ Владимир Путин (9,52; в 2008 году – 9,30). На втором месте – президент РФ Дмитрий Медведев (9,14 и 8,99 соответственно).

В составе пятерки лидеров изменений вообще не произошло. При этом, министр финансов Алексей Кудрин (3-е место), замыкавший топ-5 в 2008 году, в 2009-м опередил первого заместителя руководителя администрации президента Владислава Суркова (4-е место, в 2008-м – 3-е) и вице-премьера Игоря Сечина (5-е и 4-е места соответственно).

По итогам 2009 года преобладает федеральная административная элита (63 человека; в 2008 году – 59). В рейтинге также 21 представитель бизнес-элиты (20), 9 партийных деятелей (11), 8 региональных боссов (10). Федеральная административная элита более чем в полтора раза численно превосходит все остальные субэлитные группы, вместе взятые.

http://www.ng.ru/ideas/2010-01-13/5_top100.html

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is enjoying a resurgent popularity in Russia. The Russian government has been sending clear signals in recent years that Stalin's achievements must be revered. What is behind the government's move to rehabilitate his image? Some opposition politicians believe it is tied to the efforts of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party to solidify its power.

"The state is hinting that Stalin's tactics are also part of its arsenal for controlling the country," says Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the opposition Yabloko party. The widespread sympathy toward Stalin, he adds, is also a result of the lingering impact of Soviet propaganda, which the Russian government never tried to erase from the public consciousness after communism fell.

"All countries emerging from totalitarianism and evolving into a normal form of government carried out a long and difficult program of reforms and re-education, of coming to grips with the past," Mr Mitrokhin says. "Germany is still carrying out de-Nazification, while we never even began this process." The government is succeeding in dispelling the outrage toward Stalin's terror-filled reign.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1949500,00.html