Putin accuses US of sparking election unrest - Daily Nation

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks in Moscow, on December 8, 2011, during a meeting of Coordinating Committee of the Popular Front, a civic movement connected with Putin?s United Russia party. Putin accused the United States of provoking the disputes over the Russian elections, adding that no-one wanted to see chaos break out in the country. AFP PHOTO 

In Summary

MOSCOW, Thursday
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today accused the United States of provoking the post-election protests in Russia, warning that demonstrators who broke the law would be punished.

Around 1,000 people have been arrested in three days of protests in Moscow alleging mass fraud in the parliamentary polls and organisers defiantly vowed to stage a mass protest in Moscow at the weekend.

Lashed out

In his first public comments on the demonstrations, Putin lashed out at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who he said had criticised Sunday's elections before even reading the reports of international monitors.

Clinton had complained the polls were neither free nor fair, a concern echoed by the last president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev who said they should be re-run due to ballot rigging.

The US criticism "had set the tone for some people inside the country and given a signal," Putin said. "They heard the signal and with the support of the US State Department started active work."

In the run-up to the election, Putin had already accused the West of funding Russian NGOs with the aim of questioning the validity of the elections.

Independent poll monitoring group Golos said it had subsequently been subjected to harassment by the authorities. (AFP)

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