RUSSIA: The arrest of the mayor of one of Russia's key cities on fraud charges has triggered speculation that the Kremlin may move to cancel mayoral elections across the country.
Volgograd mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko was arrested by the security service, the FSB, earlier this week and charged with embezzling city funds.
The arrest triggered a call by the regional governor, Nikolai Maksyuta, to change the law and appoint mayors centrally, "to get some subordination".
Citing security concerns, President Vladimir Putin has already called time on the election of regional governors, and now appoints them himself.
Now governors are lining up to call for elections for mayors also to be scrapped.
"Only when mayors are elected by governors will it be possible, first, to guarantee a high level of responsibility," Pskov governor Mikhail Kuznetsov was quoted telling the Moscow Times.
Russia's parliament, the Duma, drafted legislation for the cancellation of mayoral elections in April and a new law may be ready by early summer.
But the move comes at a sensitive time: Mr Putin is already under fire from western critics for rolling back democracy in Russia.
Under his watch, the levers of power have been collected inside the Kremlin, which controls parliament, government, regional governors, national television and the key oil and gas firms.
A law ending mayoral elections would prompt a new flurry of criticism, with Russia and the West already sparring over energy issues ahead of next month's G8 summit in St Petersburg.
Mr Ishchenko's arrest marks the first time the mayor of a major city has been arrested for corruption. His time as mayor was notable for a call last year for a referendum on whether the city should change its name back to its earlier incarnation, Stalingrad.
The call fell on deaf ears with only 15 per cent of local people supporting the idea.
Mr Ishchenko has also announced plans to rename streets after Stalin and other Communist era heroes.
He is charged with four other city officials with the misuse of €500,000 in city funds.
For ordinary Russians, concern that elections will be cancelled is tempered by the reputation some governors and mayors have for corruption. Across the country, city halls have become notorious for corruption.