'Stop feeding the Caucasus' slogan is senseless - Sergey Aleksashenko

Russian economist and member of the opposition People's Freedom Party Sergey Aleksashenko says in his blog on the radio Echo of Moscow website that the 'Stop feeding the Caucasus' slogan is senseless. The problem is not about heavy investment in the Caucasus, but in absence of public control over the budget and lack of parliamentary freedom.

The remarks came after a discussion of the subject involving prominent Russian blogger Alexey Navalny.

Sergey Aleksashenko served as deputy head of the Russian Central Bank (Bank of Russia) in the late 90s. Now the scholar is deputy head of the Higher School of Economics, responsible for macroeconomic research. Aleksashenko is also a prominent figure in the newly established opposition People's Freedom Party, which was not registered by the Ministry of Justice and thus will not be able to take part in the coming parliamentary elections.

The notorious slogan was previously criticized by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.