Russian Internet whistleblower goes to court

Russian blogger Alexei Navalny has asked a court to declare illegal the failure of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS)  to act in a case which involves state purchases of electronic equipment, an official said on Friday. Navalny, who has become well known in Russia for using the Internet to lampoon the country's ruling elite and expose high-level graft, said on his website he found violations in purchases of electronic voting systems for the Central Election Commission and filed a complaint to the FAS. He said that the initial contract price of 470.7 million rubles ($16.78 million) was greatly inflated. The commission suspended the purchase following his statement. The FAS dismissed Navalny's claim in May. Commission head Vladimir Churov said prices for Russian-made electronic voting systems were among the lowest in the world.