“She gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work.”
Secretary Clinton is a lot more persuasive than we all thought–and internationally so, it seems.
From BBC News:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of being behind protests over the results of Russia’s parliamentary elections.
Mr Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “set the tone for some opposition activists”.
She “gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work”, he said.
Mrs Clinton maintained that her concerns were “well-founded”. Election monitors have also been critical.
About 1,000 people have been arrested in Moscow during three days of protests alleging election fraud.
Organisers have called another protest for Saturday.
‘Mercenary interests’
Mr Putin accused the protesters of acting “in accordance with a well-known scenario and in their own mercenary political interests”.
He warned that those working for foreign governments to influence Russian politics would be held to account.
“It is unacceptable when foreign money is pumped into election processes,” Mr Putin said in comments shown on state-run TV.
“We should think of forms of defence of our sovereignty, defence from interference from abroad,” he added.
Mrs Clinton said the US supported the “rights and aspirations of the Russian people”.
“We expressed concerns that we thought were well-founded about the conduct of the elections,” Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Brussels after talks between Nato allies and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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