The clearest example concerns Grigory Pasko, a journalist on a military newspaper in Vladivostok, in Russia's far east.

ECONOMIST: Russia

To stir up public interest, Mr Pasko tried apparently in vain to win a seat on Vladivostok's city council in an election on January 17th.

ECONOMIST: Old Russian habits die hard

Mr Pasko helped a Japanese television company with research into Russia's nuclear housekeeping, was arrested in November 1997, and has been behind bars ever since, mostly in horrible conditions.

ECONOMIST: Old Russian habits die hard

Despite a postponement this week, Grigory Pasko, a journalist accused of treason for leaking details of the navy's dumping of nuclear waste, is due for trial in Vladivostock in June.

ECONOMIST: Russia

Stung by that defeat, Russia's twitchy security services have come down all the harder on Grigory Pasko, a Vladivostok journalist, who is in the same trouble as Mr Nikitin, but a lot deeper.

ECONOMIST: Old Russian habits die hard

But, says Pasko Kuzman, an archaeologist at the culture ministry, Macedonians are a mix of all the people who have ever lived in the region, so they have every right to treat Alexander as a symbol.

ECONOMIST: Annoy Greece, put up more statues of Alexander