Kremlin to Cede Power to Fight Graft.

(From The Moscow Times)

President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Moscow had to cede some of its powers to regional governments if it is to be successful in rooting out the corruption he described as having become a "way of life" in the country.

Medvedev's comments, made during the presentation of an ambitious anti-corruption program to federal officials and lawmakers, would suggest a break with the policies of his predecessor Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, who engineered a huge shiftof authority from regional governments to the Kremlin during his eight years as president.

Some analysts, however, were skeptical Wednesday that Medvedev's plans would include any radical measures like the return of gubernatorial elections.

Medvedev said his plan for tackling corruption included "measures for handing over some federal powers to the regions and some functions of government bodies to the nongovernmental sector."

The proposed measures will be cemented in new legislation, Medvedev said in comments published on his web site. He did not specify which federal powers might be ceded to the regions or of which responsibilities the state should divest itself, and a Kremlin spokesman declined immediate comment Wednesday.

But an analyst with a think tank to which Medvedev is closely linked said that, although the plan envisioned a transfer of some federal powers to the regional level, it didn't call for major political reforms.