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The big news for the week was, of course, the big win by President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in the December 2 legislative elections. According to a preliminary tally, United Russia won 64.3% of the votes cast and A Just Russia, a party loyal to the Kremlin, won 7.7%. The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party won 8.1% of the vote, while the Communist part won 11.6%. Among those elected: Andrei Lugovoy, a businessman sought by British police in connection with the murder by radioactive poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006. Lugovoy has denied involvement in the murder and Russia has denied to extradite him to Britain.
The overall election results were criticized for irregularities by people in and out of Russia, but the Russian government would have none of it. On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry released a statement chiding the U.S. government for passing judgment on Russia’s elections before fixing problems in its own. “Before judging others it would be a good idea to sort out one’s own practices, which are held up to us as an electoral ideal,” the statement said, according to Thomson Financial. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti says the Communist Party is planning a nationwide rally on December 22 to protest the election results.
There was also much debate about what the results mean for the March 2 presidential elections. President Putin cannot run for a third term, but observers are looking at the strong pro-Putin returns and conjuring up a variety of scenarios under which he could still hold power. The Hindustan Times reported on Friday that Putin is going to Belarus next week and that the visit could result in a reunification. The two countries have had this discussion before, but the paper says that this time could be the real deal. The upshot could be that reunification would produce a new country that would need a new government and that that government would not be bound by the current Russian constitution.
In business news, an executive at Russia’s second largest bank, VTB, was found dead in his swimming pool this week and Russian investigators said they are investigating whether the death was murder. According to Reuters, Oleg Zhukovsky was found in the water with his arms and legs bound. But the newswire also reported that, according to Kommersant, a suicide note was found at Zhukovsky’s home.
On a better note, French auto maker Renault is buying 25% of Russia’s AvtoVAZ, the maker of the Soviet Union’s most utilitarian automobile, the Lada. (AvtoVAZ has gotten trendier lately.) Neither side disclosed a price for the deal, but the offer, according to Bloomberg, beat a bid by General Motors.
The bid can be seen as part of a larger trend of increased investment in Russia. Economic officials said Friday that net private capital inflow should top $90 billion for 2007, which would be a record. Last year’s figure was s$40.9 billion.
Image credit: Morguefile.com
