COMMENTARY & POLITICS

Conspiracy theories a false alarm: Western companies are infiltrating and destroying Russia's industries according to the head of the Economics Committee of the Russian parliament, Sergei Glazyev, who is also the number three man and top economics expert of the Congress of Russian Communities nationalist electoral bloc. Some label his allegation populist posturing in the lead up to the elections. Others take him seriously. YEVGENIA BORISOVA puts his claims under the microscope.
Petersburg start for Yabloko campaign: Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Yabloko political movement started his 40-day nationwide election campaign in St Petersburg.
Sobchak confronts assembly: St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak ventured into the lions' den in an effort to bring the city's Legislative Assembly to heel.
Vote-rigging scams are a possibilty, honest elections society's grim warning: Tampering with ballot papers and manipulating results could be widespread in Russia's elections, an expert on the Duma has warned.
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE: - a new feature that will canvass the opinions of one major group of St Petersburg electors every two weeks in the run up to the December 17.
EDITORIAL: Tarnished tutus
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