Russian Presidential Election
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall described the anxieties and criticisms expressed to her and other Russian specialists who were invited to a high-level conference in Russia last autumn.
She says she and many of her colleagues were struck by how many critical voices there were: "Most telling of all was the sense of disappointment, and even a sense of being affronted, that the apparent choice that they might have been offered between Putin and Medvedev in the coming election had been snatched from them without consultation and without any warning."
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