Joe Biden attacks Russia’s political system

Daily Telegraph

Joe Biden, the US vice president, has warned Russia is being held back by corruption and the Kremlin’s reluctance to embrace democracy.

In a speech that is likely to anger Russia’s leaders who hate being criticised by their former Cold War foe, Mr Biden warned that attempts to modernise Russia’s economy without political reform were likely to fail.

“Do not compromise on the basic tenets of democracy,” he told an audience at Moscow State University. “You need not make that Faustian bargain.”

Fresh from a meeting with Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, Mr Biden insisted he did not want to lecture Russians but then delivered a devastating critique of almost every part of Russia’s political and legal system.

“Get your system right,” he told the audience, saying that corruption was scaring off foreign investors. “Modernisation in every way is essential.”

But it was his frank comments about Russia’s political system, made just a year before a presidential election which Mr Putin may contest, that are most likely to rankle.

“Political competition means better candidates and better government. In my view most Russians want to choose their own government leaders in free and fair elections,” he said.

Though Mr Biden explained at length why he thought US-Russia relations were on the up, he also hit out at Russia’s rule of law, raising the high-profile case of jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky who is expected to remain in jail until 2017 on charges that many believe are politically-motivated. Mr Biden fluffed the oligarch’s name, calling him “Kovinsky,” but the audience knew who he meant. He added that Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation could hinge on its commitment to protect human rights.

He also raised the case of dead lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in jail in 2009 after being kept in pre-trial attention for a year.

Mr Biden’s criticism came as the Russian foreign ministry denied reports that Russia would seek to free Viktor Bout, the so-called “Lord of War” arms dealer, from an American jail in a prisoner exchange. срочный займ на карту онлайн срочный займ на карту https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php займы на карту