Election chief says Putin is always right

Moscow: The Russian official whose role is to act as an impartial umpire in elections said in an interview published yesterday that President Vladimir Putin is always right.

Kremlin critics have raised doubts about the impartiality of Vladimir Churov who was last month chosen as chairman of the Central Election Commission.

In his first major newspaper interview since he started his new job, Churov told the Kommersant daily that "Churov's Law No. 1" is that Putin is always right.

Asked what would happen if it turned out the Russian leader was mistaken on a certain issue, Churov said: "How can Putin be wrong?"

Churov worked alongside Putin in the 1990s in the same local administration department in St Petersburg.