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Russia a Step Back in Democracy, Top U.S. Official Said
Russia has taken a step back en route to democracy and presidential elections of 2008 could be just the controlled succession to Putin, retired Navy Admiral Mike McConnell, who is the director of the U.S. national intelligence today, warned the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“The march to democracy has taken a back step. Now there are more arrangements to control the process and the populace and the parties and so on, to the point of picking the next leader of Russia,” Reuters quoted McConnell as saying.
"Is the march toward democracy, the way we understood it ... now being controlled in a way that it is less of a democratic process?" McConnell emphasized.
According to the U.S. chief spy, President Putin has surrounded himself by extremely conservative advisers, who are very suspicious of the United States. The recent aggressive rhetoric of Russia in respect of Washington makes clear the dominating political direction in the country.
www.kommersant.com
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