Putin says outsiders plan to interfere in March election
Vladimir Putin, the combative President of Russia, has warned about foreign attempts to hijack presidential elections slated for March 3, warning of “attempts to interfere with our internal affairs… Our country is a sovereign state and we will not allow the conduct of the election campaign to be corrected by anyone from outside. In connection with that, the task of all state structures is [to guarantee the democratic character of the elections, sociopolitical stability, to give our citizens the possibility of making a free and deliberate choice,” he said. Constitutionally, Putin is not allowed to run for an additional mandate, but his successor, Dmitry Medvedev is expected to win handily.
Putin, who has engineered a political and economic miracle in his homeland, has long been the target of special interests both internally and externally. Under his leadership, Russia has broken the back of the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=333, such as NATO expansion, have cut down Russia’s sphere of influence in Europe. “Non governmental organizations” (NGOs) are especially suspect and played major roles in the color revolutions as well as in attempting to influence policy and opinion within Russia itself.
Putin has taken the NGO threat very seriously, and as a KGB veteran is attuned to foreign intelligence work. His latest offensive was the mass closure of offices of the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2639, which Russian intelligence maintains is a front for MI6 and other Western intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile those Putin supporters see as cat’s paws of the West and oligarchs are attempting to “expose” the elections as “undemocratic.”