Protests in the Altai Republic against the municipal reform became yet another vivid episode of resistance from Russian regions to the Kremlin's centralising efforts aimed at dismantling local self-government. The ongoing reform eliminates the two-tier system of local self-government, abolishing rural councils and strengthening the control of governors over consolidated districts. The Altai case has its own peculiarities: protests by residents and local elites are directed against the outside...
