Reel in Pre-Election Spending, Official Warns

STRASBOURG, France — The government has promised voters more social spending than it can muster without threatening the country’s fiscal stability as elections approach, a deputy finance minister warned. With State Duma elections due in December and the presidential poll in March 2012 in which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev could run, Russia has pledged extra funds for social programs and domestic […]