On the power grab in Russia:
The arrest of Russia’s richest man has prompted warnings from politicians and commentators that President Vladimir Putin’s old comrades in the KGB are staging a creeping takeover of the Kremlin….Mr Khodorkovsky’s error, analysts say, was to renege on an informal pact sealed by Mr Putin and Russia’s tycoons in 2000, under which he agreed not to investigate the murky sources of their wealth as long as they steered clear of big-time politics….But Mr Khodorkovsky, head of Russia’s biggest oil firm, Yukos, has openly financed opposition parties campaigning for December’s parliamentary elections, and even hinted at a possible run for the presidency in 2008. [UK Telegraph]
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed an order relieving chief of staff Alexander Voloshin from duty…. Voloshin reportedly tendered his resignation after Saturday’s arrest and jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the head of the Russian oil giant Yukos. [Yahoo News]