Vladimir Puttin' On The Hard Sell

President Vladimir Putin launched a searing attack on the west and Russia’s marginalized political opposition this week, accusing them of plotting together to weaken the country and return it to the chaos and thievery of the 1990s. He warned Russia that enemies were intent on snuffing out its economic revival and provoking an ill-intentioned “Orange” revolution.

“Those who oppose us don’t want our plans to be completed. They have completely different tasks and different views of Russia. They need a weak, sick state, a disorientated, divided society, so that behind its back they can get up to their dirty deeds and profit at your and my expense,” Putin warned. "Regrettably, there are those inside the country who feed off foreign embassies like jackals and count on support of foreign funds and governments, and not their own people."

Russia’s state-controlled Channel One devoted almost its entire early evening news to the often nationalistic speech, which ended with a call to vote for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. A crushing victory for the pro-Kremlin party is widely expected to become a platform for Mr Putin’s appointment to a new political post or to proclaim him “national leader” when he stands down as president next year. Putin’s scare tactics appeared aimed at the “Other Russia” coalition of former chess champion Garry Kasparov, and at Mikhail Kasyanov, the former prime minister turned opposition leader.

At almost the same time, an opposition politician running in Russian parliamentary elections was shot and seriously wounded as he entered his house in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, according to Russian media reports.

Farid Babayev, who will lead the regional list for the liberal anti-Kremlin Yabloko party was in a serious condition in hospital, RIA novosti news agency reported after an unidentified gunman fired on him in the regional capital Makhachkala. Dagestan is in the North Caucasus, next to Chechnya, and has been hit by an upsurge in separatist attacks in recent months and crime. Babayev was not expected to win a seat in the December 2 parliamentary elections. Under Russian law, a candidate (even one that garners the majority of votes locally) cannot win a seat in parliament unless his party gathers at least 7 percent of votes on a national basis. Under this system, various local candidates from the controlling political party are able to win seats even though they finish second or third in their local precincts.

Things are not looking good for the upcoming December 2 election. Europe’s main election monitoring group has already said it was scrapping plans to deploy observers to Russia’s forthcoming parliamentary elections in a decision that could cast doubt on the integrity of the poll.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe claimed Moscow had imposed “unprecedented restrictions” on its activities. Russia had slashed the number of observers it would admit to the election and then repeatedly delayed issuing visas for OSCE monitors.