Editor,

I have just returned from a vacation in Saratov, my native city, where I spoke with a great many of my friends and relatives about politics and the March 26 presidential election.

The overwhelming majority of my interlocutors voted either for Gennady Zyuganov or Grigory Yavlinsky. All of them were sure that countless, impertinent falsifications and frauds took place during the voting at many polling stations in the Saratov region. But nobody knew any exact figures, since it has been impossible to find any such figures published in local newspapers obedient to the all-powerful dictator Governor Dmitry Ayatskov.

Thus, I read this piece attentively, an accurate and brilliantly written article, or, rather, thorough investigation of the latest presidential election in this country. The author herself covered nine of the 12 regions where violations took place - including the Saratov region - and showed real and false figures given in favor of President Vladimir Putin.

This has proved once again the people's suppositions that Putin won his post by violating the law and using many frauds, as did his notorious godfather Boris Yeltsin.

I think the author's investigation of the illegitimate election might turn out in due course to be a reference document for future historians of our nation's Time of Troubles.

I've sent three copies of The Moscow Times to my friends in Saratov, since it's impossible to buy the paper there.