Free Republic

Two Russian colonels are reported to have fallen out of windows in the space of two days, adding to a growing list of high-ranking officials who have died in mysterious circumstances since Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine began. Artur Pryakhin, 56, the head of a regional branch of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in the Republic of Karelia, died after falling from a fifth floor window of an office building at around noon on February 4. Local authorities said he left a suicide note in his office in which he apologized to his wife, asked his loved ones for forgiveness,...

A sudden surge in food prices in Russia ahead of elections has the government digging deep into its bag of tricks, including a few from Soviet days, to prevent popular discontent from resonating in the voting booth. ... In a throwback to the Soviet era, when the economy was planned and prices set with no regard for supply and demand, some regions have started to set price controls on staples. Middlemen have been singled out with a ferocity that plays on deep-seated suspicions about "spekulanty" — the speculators who bought and sold scarce goods during Soviet times and got rich...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the resignation of PM Mikhail Fradkov and nominated a financial crime investigator to replace him. Victor Zubkov, head of the federal financial monitoring service, is a relative unknown in Russian politics. Mr Fradkov offered to resign, citing "approaching significant political events", said Tass news agency. The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, is set to vote on Mr Zubkov's nomination on Friday.