Putin reforms threaten fragile democracy-analysts
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President Vladimir Putin will tighten his control over Russia with his plan to shake up government but risks undermining brittle post-Soviet democracy, analysts and liberals said on Tuesday.
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MOSCOW -- Demonstrations across Russia posed a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin yesterday, as authorities bowed to the demands of protesting retirees by restoring some state benefits, such as free public transportation and subsidized medicine.
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WASHINGTON -- A debate is brewing at the highest levels of the Bush administration over whether to adopt a tougher stance toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, who has systematically rolled back democratic freedoms and tried to snuff out democracy in weak neighboring states with little American opposition, according to US officials and policy analysts.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on  Thursday he had no plans to grab more power or change the  constitution when reforming Russia's government structure,  dismissing fears in the West he is watering down democracy.
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Russia will remain on the path of democracy and a market economy, President Vladimir Putin vowed, despite controversial political reforms strengthing central authority over the country.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin made constitutional changes on Monday designed to increase his personal control of the regions and parliament, saying the government needed &quot;strengthening&quot; because it had failed at Beslan in its fight against terrorism.
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Ukraine's leap toward democracy has inspired opposition leaders in formerly Soviet Central Asia and alarmed its long-ruling autocrats, but analysts say the region isn't ready for a democratic revolution.
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President Bush on Wednesday urged  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to "uphold the principles  of democracy" in a carefully worded message expressing concern  about Putin's proposed political reforms.
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President Bush on Wednesday urged  Russian President Vladimir Putin to "uphold the principles of  democracy" in a carefully worded message expressing concern  about Putin's proposed political reforms.
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Russian papers voices alarm at President Putin's plans to overhaul the power structure in response to Beslan.
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Secretary of State Colin Powell said  on Tuesday he had concerns about Russian President Vladimir  Putin's sweeping political changes.
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President Vladimir Putin on Monday demanded an overhaul of Russia's political system, including an end to the direct popular election of governors, saying the changes were needed to combat terrorism.
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President Vladimir Putin appears unlikely to be confronted by a Ukrainian-style revolution in Russia as a whole anytime soon, but he may face something almost as troubling -- the possibility of "an amber ...
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Russia's first post-Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin issued a veiled warning that President Vladimir Putin's decision to hand sweeping new powers to the Kremlin in the wake of the Beslan hostage crisis could roll back democratic freedoms.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday strongly warned against foreign interference in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, accusing the West of trying to force its conception of democracy on countries in the region.
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Secretary of State Colin Powell said  on Tuesday he had concerns about Russian President Vladimir  Putin's sweeping political changes and said Russia was backing  away from some past democratic reforms.
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Frustration is deep over Western support for independence that Russia sees as destabilizing and against international law.