Website examines dubious practices in Russian election campaign funding.

Text of report by Russian political commentary website Politkom.ru on 18 October

[Commentary by Valeriy Vyzhutovich: "A Parliamentary Seat Is Expensive Nowadays"]

Elections are not conducted on credit. This immutable truth is encapsulated in the cynical saying of TV executives: "No budget means no story." Which means: Money up front! No service will be provided in an election campaign without 100 per cent payment in advance. According to some stories, a minute of primetime pre-election television advertising is valued at 600,000-800,000 roubles.

Party publications also requires significant investment. Their pre-election print runs are increased many times over. For example, experts estimate that the Communists will spend more than 61 million roubles on a special edition of Pravda with a print run of 5 million copies. Spending by the LDPR [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia], whose newspaper is published with a print run of 2 million copies, will be significantly less. Just Russia will spend the most on the press. The print run of its newspaper, according to figures from party headquarters, will total 25 million copies in October-November. The print runs of this party's regional publications will also increase. In the …