... police was sacked following an investigation into the beating death of a 15-year-old boy while in custody, amid an ugly power struggle that came to a head at the annual meeting of police brass with President Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev, who had made police reform one of his signature achievements during his term — which is set to end in May — said efforts to clean up the police would continue after he departs. "This is not the end of changes, but we have gone through the most essential...

President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that the proposals he made in December for reforms to the political system were not concessions to protesters who have rallied in cities across the country in favor of just such reforms. President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that the proposals he made in December...

President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with leaders of unregistered political parties later this month to discuss his plans for political reform, but not mass protests. President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with leaders of unregistered political parties later this month to discuss his plans for political reform, but not mass protests, news reports said Wednesday. Medvedev plans to hold...

... demonstrations held on Feb. 4 is that both civil society and the authorities are walking down a dangerous path of escalation. After angry protests broke out in response to the rigged State Duma elections on Dec. 4, the authorities chose not to implement reforms to meet some of the protesters' demands. On the contrary, the Anti-Orange protest on Poklonnaya Gora that the authorities threw together at the last moment showed that the Kremlin is as determined as ever to try to discredit and marginalize the...

... in the fourth quarter to reach $84.2 billion last year, were also a worrying sign for investors who hesitate when they see locals moving their money abroad. But whatever the tussling over the Kremlin's top job, the investment bank said institutional reform in Russia was inevitable. The political establishment knows that reforms are rational, Jakobsen said, "It is just a matter of whether it will be baby steps or big steps." "In 2008 [during the last economic crisis] the politicians...

... Department memo that came after an investigation uncovered widespread abuses in the J-1 Summer Work Travel program, or SWT, which annually allows more than 100,000 foreign college students to work in the United States for up to four months. "The reforms we are undertaking will significantly reduce the opportunities for wrongdoing and catch it much more quickly when it does occur," the memo said. Some of the most significant changes would be to ban jobs in factories, warehouses and other...

United Russia, the country's dominant political party for more than a decade, might be radically reformed or even dissolved in the coming months. United Russia, the country's dominant political party for more than a decade, might be radically reformed or even dissolved in the coming months, media reports said Friday. The party has long been...

... those we are seeing here. I have a different explanation. Twenty years ago, the collapse of the planned economy in the Soviet Union forced leaders to make sweeping changes of the whole system at once. The government had no choice but to push through reforms rapidly, often without any preparation. That may have been the best possible strategy — even in those countries that made the transition from socialism without suffering an economic disaster, such as the Czech Republic and Poland. A conference...

... private enterprises. In addition to releasing political prisoners, the first demand voiced by protesters is to dismantle the police state, eliminate politically motivated prosecutions and respect fundamental human rights. This requires a fundamental reform of the court system and security forces. The second demand is the annulment of the results of the rigged parliamentary elections and the holding of new elections under open, democratic rules and legislation. Throwing out the results of the Dec...

... political and legal institutions played in the growth, particularly those that protected property rights and enforced contractual obligations. These institutions are very difficult to build, especially if they have no political support. That is why reformers tried to create a critical mass of private property owners. In contrast, inert state-owned companies cared little about creating a competent and honest bureaucracy, an independent and effective judicial system, investor rights, competitive markets...

... down if Zhirinovsky won. Meanwhile, in a separate event, Putin told supporters that the government will consider bringing back daylight-saving time, the abolition of which was one of outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev's most widely felt and discussed reforms. "If the majority thinks that it was better before, we might return [to the old time regime]," Putin said Tuesday, Interfax reported. Putin said Medvedev was open to the idea of returning to the pre-2011 regime, under which clocks were...

... them to react, not directly but indirectly, just like after the December protests," he said by telephone from London, where he was for talks to set up a new anti-corruption network called Stopvor. Ponomaryov was referring to the set of political reforms announced by Dmitry Medvedev in his Dec. 22 presidential address. Although the president did not say this explicitly, the liberal reforms are widely seen as concessions to the protests that broke out after accusations of widespread fraud at the...

... economic vision in the third of a weekly series of articles titled "Ideas for Russia" on Monday and called for a smaller state presence in business, a fight against corruption, institutional reform and a drive to wean Russia off its oil dependency. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin laid out his economic vision in the third of a weekly series of articles titled "Ideas for Russia" on Monday and called for a smaller state presence...

... he has been in power too long. "For an open society in the 21st century, [12 years] is a huge amount of time. No leaders of democratic countries have been in power for so long," he wrote, noting that the middle class that is now demanding reform was created under Putin. The article, which offers advice both to Putin and the opposition, endorses Putin's leadership that "restored the country after the chaos and economic instability of the '90s." In Kostin's view, Putin's victory...

... despite public assurances from Vladimir Putin, there's no promise Medvedev will become prime minister. CORRECTION APPENDED As his term in office comes to a close, Dmitry Medvedev has made direct gubernatorial elections his last attempt at major reform. But in a sign of his dwindling influence, the effort has come under withering pressure from critics and even his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who suggested on Tuesday that the proposal needs more review. "Today, we need to implement...

... open Putin's lock on the political process, deepen the fissures within the elites and allow for a challenge of Putin's dominance by new political leaders. The new Duma would be the starting point to the ultimate goal — sweeping constitutional reform to finally end the absolutist monarchy in Russia by establishing a genuine separation of powers and a government for the people, of the people and by the people. The winning strategy must eschew the violent tactics that some protest leaders have...

.... "Inflation is likely to stay low until at least May, before rebounding in the second half of 2012," VTB Capital analysts led by Alexander Zabotkin wrote in a note Thursday. The IMF also warned Thursday that without systemic medium-term reforms Russia could see falling annual growth. In its updated World Economic Outlook released earlier this week, the organization cut its 2012 prognosis for Russia to 3.3 percent, down from 4.1 percent in 2011. Brekk highlighted the need for Russia...

Ukraine's finance minister resigned Wednesday as support for the government has fallen in the wake of a waning economy and the slow pace of reforms. KIEV — Ukraine's finance minister resigned Wednesday as support for the government has fallen in the wake of a waning economy and the slow pace of reforms. President Viktor Yanukovych accepted Fyodir Yaroshenko's resignation Wednesday...

This week, the main topic of gossip was the surprisingly colorful love life of Anatoly Chubais, the redheaded economic reformer of the 1990s. Rumor has it that he has secretly married Avdotya Smirnova, the much younger presenter of "School for Scandal," the NTV interview show. Neither of the couple commented publicly, but...

... Titov urged restraint and criticized naive demands, dubious leaders and unrealizable aspirations. Though a founding member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's All-Russia People's Front, Titov has consistently espoused the need for deep institutional reform. He is a member of the Right Cause political party and owner of the Russian champagne manufacturer Abrau-Dyurso. The business community was concerned, Titov said, by the opaque slogans of protesters who on Dec. 10 and Dec. 24 succeeded in staging...