Top Kremlin Aide Visits "Dissident" Governor

MOSCOW (AFP)--The Kremlin on Friday sent its top ideologue to meet a regional leader who shocked the country by comparing the domination of the ruling United Russia party to the Soviet Union's one-party state.

Vladislav Surkov, the deputy head of the presidential administration, was in Ufa, the capital of the southern region of Bashkortostan for talks with its chief Murtaza Rakhimov, Russian news agencies reported.

Rakhimov - himself a United Russia member - astonished Russia earlier this month with his unprecedented criticism of the party, saying that the level of centralization in Russia was now "worse than in Soviet times."

A source told Interfax the visit would allow the local authorities "to correct that situation into which they pushed themselves by criticizing the federal authorities and ruling party to achieve local goals."

"The situation has exceeded what the Bashkir leadership planned and they have not worked out how to get out of it. This visit will give them the chance to correct the situation and save face," the source added.

The leader of United Russia - which has a huge majority in the lower house of parliament - is strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, although curiously he is still not a formal member of the party.

In an interview with the Moskovsky Kosomolets newspaper earlier this month, Rakhimov said that "everything comes from above in our country. The level of centralization is even worse than in Soviet times."

"It is very bad that one party controls everything. There should be as a minimum of two parties, like in the United States or Britain," he added.

Rakhimov's comments - which came at a time when the economic crisis has rattled the country's leadership - marked a rare criticism of United Russia from within and prompted expressions of bewilderment from its chiefs.

Surkov, a major behind-the-scenes figures in Russian politics, has held his post since 1999. But Interfax implied his visit would not lead to the sacking of Rakhimov. "There will be no organizational conclusions," its source said.

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