Central Government Should Not Remove Regional Authorities From Law Enforcement Practices

In the wake of Thursday's assassination of Sergei Yushenkov, a State Duma deputy and one of leaders of the recently established Liberal Russia political party, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov spoke against the government's current practice of removing regional authorities (referring, in this case, to Moscow) from tackling law enforcement problems. He told journalists on Saturday that all law-and-order issues have been effectively taken away from regional authorities' jurisdiction by now.

Luzhkov said: "Yushenkov was a good and upright person whom no one can suspect of any commercially-motivated links with business." Moreover, Moscow Mayor doubts that there are any political implications behind the assassination. "I cannot say that I know any political organization which might be interested in the elimination of this person," Yuri Luzhkov stressed.

In his opinion, the assassination of Yushenkov will have a certain impact on the parliamentary election scheduled for the end of the year.