Moskovsky Komsomolets
Prime minister sets bad example for bikers
Putin and his biker “buddies” violated traffic rules to the tune of 25,000 rubles.
A few months ago a journalist, who was registering his motorcycle with an inter-district registration office in the Moscow Region, was fined 500 rubles for riding ten meters without a helmet. This fine is stipulated in Article 12.6 of the Administrative Offences Code for driving or riding “a motorcycle without a helmet or without strapping a helmet.”
I only wish Novorossiisk’s traffic police respected the rules this much. But no, they looked on benevolently as the convoy of about 50 bikers, led by Vladimir Putin, drove past sans helmets. The bikers were secure in their prime minister-led veil of confidence, which easily warded off any thoughts of actual law enforcement by the traffic police.
This was not Putin’s first traffic violation. A year ago, he drove a three-wheeled bike also without the required helmet. It was in a foreign country, in Sevastopol, but Ukrainian laws do not differ much in their helmet requirements.
It should be mentioned that the three-wheeled bike, or “trike” (a remodeled vintage Harley Davidson), which Putin so clearly favors, does tend to turn over more easily than a normal motorcycle. It would have been nice if the local traffic police – or anybody else – had mustered the courage to mention this to the prime minister.
Even the Interior Ministry’s traffic police department refused to explain why this mass violation went unpunished. Their only response was: “Don’t you see why?”
Well, I don’t, if only because “one fool makes many.”
Vedomosti.ru
Observers blow whistle on fraud at United Russia primaries
The United Russia party may have to annul the outcome of its Primorye Territory primaries as ballot counting boards question the victory of a businessman who is on good terms with the local governor.
Officials in two precincts have refused to sign off the vote citing massive fraud, according to a high-ranking United Russia source and a Russian Popular Front member. If the party primaries results for Primorye are annulled, the party’s general council will compile a local list of candidates for parliament seats.
The Primorye list is currently topped by local businessman and lawmaker Galust Akhoyan who is rumored to be on good terms with the governor, Sergei Darkin.
In spring 2010, Darkin nominated Akhoyan as his representative in the Federation Council but revoked his candidacy later. Local media said security services opposed the nomination because he had a U.S. residence permit.
In August, the local investigation committee sued Akhoyan for tax evasion. The businessman paid up, but investigators suspect it was not a standalone case.
Controversy flared when it became known that Ruslan Kondratov, nominated by the territorial fisheries association, came sixth on the election list, while only the top three candidates get into parliament. Fyodor Vuglikov, a counting board official who refused to sign off on the vote, claims he saw two buses drive up to the polling station. A large crowd of young people alighted and grabbed a pile of ballot papers. Some cast several ballots at a time, while others made repeated trips to the ballot box.
“I do not want to shame myself by colluding in this political farce, not at my respectable age. This kind of stunt won’t improve party ratings,” Vuglikov said.
Other whistleblowers reported boxes containing twice as many ballot papers as there were voters. The fisheries association complained that their candidate received 100-130 votes in each precinct, plunging to 30-40 after Darkin returned from vacation. Darkin was unavailable for comment.
Viktor Reva, head of the United Russia executive committee in Primorye, denied that any fraud had taken place. Head of the regional ballot counting board Mikhail Atroshko pointed out that only one public association is voicing concern: “Someone seems to need provocation and intrigue in the Primorye primaries.”
Akhoyan said it was the Popular Front’s involvement that stirred so much interest in party primaries and improved popular faith in this format of preliminary voting.
Sergei Neverov, secretary of the United Russia general council’s presidium, neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of annulling the Primorye results.
A Communist Party official said United Russia’s primaries reflected all the flaws of the existing election system including ballot manipulation and recourse to administrative resources.
Given the amount of criticism about the primaries, the authorities wisely chose to make it appear an unfortunate exception, explained political analyst Alexei Makarkin. Primorye is known as an unstable region, so an annulment there would in fact legitimize the procedure as a whole.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Putin urges tighter border control for Russian Arctic
The state border infrastructure is to receive 134 billion rubles ($4.6 billion) in state funding over the next nine years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday at a meeting to discuss how Russia’s border facilities can be improved. Putin set the border authorities an entirely new objective: creating a secure Arctic border. It used to be thought that Nature itself protected Russia from the north. After all, no intruder would be able to travel hundreds of kilometers through the snow-covered North Pole.
“As was agreed yesterday with the Finance Ministry and the deputy prime minister with oversight for this area, there are plans to spend 134 billion rubles on state border improvement and infrastructure creation,” Putin said at a meeting to discuss the draft of a new federal targeted program to develop state border facilities in 2012-2017. He said the program would build upon previously implemented border development plans. A total of 110 billion rubles ($3.8 billion) have been spent on this since 2003, with another 40 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) this year.
Twenty-eight border checkpoints have been brought into use over the past three years, and another 19 checkpoints are to be opened before the year is out. Putin demanded that the border be put in order as soon as possible. “Traffic jams and lines form at the border all the time. All this has a direct economic impact and gets on people’s nerves. We need to sort this out a.s.a.p.,” Putin said. He advocates establishing a “One-Stop Window” system at these checkpoints.
“For any state, the border checkpoint functions as a visiting card and should make the most positive first impressions possible. People should complete all border formalities as rapidly and in the most convenient way possible,” Putin stressed. He said this was particularly important in the run-up to several major political and sports events to be held in Russia over the next few years. The border infrastructure also needs to be strengthened to thwart terrorism, smuggling, illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration and overfishing.
Putin emphasized the need to strengthen Russia’s Arctic border. “We should prioritize the creation of a modern border infrastructure in the Arctic. This will make it possible to considerably enhance national military and border security and to more effectively protect natural resources,” Putin said. In the past, the thinking was that northern Russia was well protected because of its inhospitable environment. Now that Russia is claiming the right to develop abundant mineral deposits on the Arctic Ocean’s continental shelf, Putin believes this takes on strategic importance.
“It’s still difficult to assess the financial expenditure needed to upgrade Russia’s borders as it to a great extent depends on particular technologies being introduced. Obviously, overall expenses total tens of billions of rubles,” said asset manager at Broker Credit Service Nikolai Solabuto. He thinks this new streamlined checkpoint system will take several years, even if all the departments involved work together.
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