The New York Times announced today that beginning on Sunday, Feb. 24, it will publish "Kremlin Rules, a multi-part series that examines democracy in Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin. The first article in the series will be written by Clifford J. Levy, The Times's Moscow bureau chief.
The series will be translated and posted on "New York Times in Russian, an online community page hosted by LiveJournal. The community page, created by Times journalists, will offer a unique perspective from the voices of Russian citizens who are invited to share their opinions and comments about the series on the site. Many of the comments from the Russian site will be translated into English and posted on NYTimes.com, giving Americans and Russians an unusual perspective on the views of one another.
The first installment looks at the city and residents of Nizhny Novgorod, once a place of liberalism and now the definitive example of Putin's legacy and control over the government. The series shows how the long arm of Putin's politics has affected this city, and the rest of Russia, as the nation faces the March 2 presidential elections.
Levy writes: "On the eve of a presidential election in Russia that itself was all but fixed in December, when Mr. Putin selected his close aide, Dmitri A. Medvedev, as his successor, Nizhny Novgorod stands as a stark example of how Mr. Putin and his followers have established what is essentially a one-party state.
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This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com.