Free Republic

Mr Putin stated unequivocally that he would not allow the constitution to be changed to let him run for a third term. "If I say that everyone is equal under the law," he noted, "I don't have the right to make an exception for myself." Yet if the rule of law had even begun to take hold in Russia, the country would now be witnessing a massive, sustained onslaught on corruption at every level of business and government, in the form of police sweeps, trials, jail terms, public education initiatives — and purges of the judiciary and police themselves. It...