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April 6 – 13, 2006 Edition

Brookings Scholar

Says Russian President

Putin Plagiarized US Book

WASHINGTON/4/3/06—A Brookings Institution scholar says Russian President Vladimir Putin may have plagiarized a book written by two U.S. professors, William King and David Cleland, according to an Associated Press story which appeared on CTV.ca.

Clifford Gaddy, a scholar at Washington’s Brookings, said at least 16 pages of text and charts, tables and other graphics that appear in Putin’s 1997 book, Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations were copied verbatim from the American book.

King and Cleland’s textbook, Strategic Planning and Policy was written in 1978. Putin did list the book, translated into Russian in 1982, as a reference.

The AP story quoted a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying: “We do not consider it necessary to comment on such absurd accusations.”

John Wiley & Sons, which currently owns the publishing rights to King and Cleland’s book, told the AP through spokeswoman Susan Spilka that the publisher does not intend to sue. “We are flattered that Mr. Putin may have used material from one of our publications,” she said. Read the full AP story at: CTV.ca.