Thursday, January 24, 2008

Kasyanov Facing Forgery Investigation


"The Russian prosecutor-general's office on Tuesday announced a forgery investigation has been opened against the campaign of an opposition candidate for the presidential election. " If more than five percent of the signatures are found to be forgeries, Mikhail Kasyanov will not be permitted to run in the election planned to take place March 2nd.
On Saturday, he was quoted complaining of alleged official harassment. This harassment and "political pressure" is not being taken lightly by Kasyanov. He has told the public that "in numerous Russian regions, crude intimidation has been deployed against people officially registered as campaign workers ... people have been threatened, intimidated and forced to admit to committing illegal acts."


Whether or not Kasyanov will be permitted to run as a presidential candidate will be made known when the final candidate list for the election is to be announced on Sunday.


To read the story in its entirety, click here.


This forgery investigation holds great importance since Kasyanov is seemingly the only candidate running against Putin-endorsed First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. If he is barred from the election, there will be little to no opposition, leaving Russia with Medvedev as the president and Putin as the new Prime Minister.


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