Bush won't call Putin
03/12/2007 18:54  - (SA)  

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What's next for Russia? Crushing victory for Putin Vote for me, threatens Putin

Washinton - US President George W. Bush has no plans to telephone Russian President Vladimir Putin after his party's romp in weekend elections held amid allegations of fraud, the White House said on Monday.

"There were allegations of election-day violations, and we have urged the Russians to look into those," spokesperson Dana Perino said, noting that Bush had expressed "concern" about possible fraud in the run-up to the vote.

Asked whether the US president planned to congratulate Putin, Perino replied: "Obviously President Putin was not on the ballot so he's not going to be calling him."

However, Putin and most of Russia's regional governors headed up electoral lists for United Russia, a tactic seen as having contributed to the party's overwhelming victory.

With 98% of ballots counted from Sunday's election, Putin's party had secured 64.1%, giving it more than two thirds of seats in parliament - a majority sufficient to change the constitution.

Opposition parties denounced the ballot as the most dishonest in Russian history and foreign observers called the Kremlin's backing for Putin's party an "abuse of power".

The criticisms were taken up by Western governments, with the US calling for a full investigation of the reported election day violations.

Putin, however, insisted that the result reflected a national desire for continuity.

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