Russia reserves the right to use force again to defend its interests and will not tolerate attempts by Western powers to contain it, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
In an end-of-year interview that signaled an uncompromising stance toward U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration, Medvedev said Russia's war with Georgia in August showed that tough action was sometimes unavoidable.
"Russia's interests must be secured by all means available, this is my deep conviction. First of all, by international and legal tools ... but, when necessary, by using an element of force," Medvedev said in the interview, which was shown on Russia's main television stations.
Touching on an economic slowdown that represents the biggest challenge to the Kremlin's grip on power in a decade, Medvedev said Russia would weather the crisis but the rouble exchange rate would become more flexible.
That appeared to be an acknowledgement that Russia cannot sustain the billions of dollars it has been spending to support a currency that has come under immense downward pressure as prices for oil, Russia's main export, plummet.
Medvedev ordered a massive counter-attack in August after forces under Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili tried to retake South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia.
The Russian leader said he was compelled to act to prevent a genocide but Western states said the Russian action -- which included sending troops to within a few kilometers (miles) of the Georgian capital -- was disproportionate.
he claim against Texas-based Premier, formerly Diebold, alleges that state elections officials were forced to spend millions of dollars to address a host of security flaws in the machines from 2003 through the November election.
Many of the problems could have compromised the integrity of the election had they not been fixed, officials said. Now the state wants its money back.
"The Board of Elections took the position that they should fix the system first and worry about the payments later," said Austin Schlick, the attorney general's chief of litigation. "In Maryland, we did things over and above what any other state has done" to ensure a smooth election, he said.
Maryland plans to withhold payment of approximately $3.5 million it owes Premier for preparations for the 2008 election until the matter is resolved, Schlick said.
Premier is disputing the allegation, saying the company is "puzzled by the timing and vagueness" of the action and calling it "inaccurate and unfounded."
"Maryland just completed one of the smoothest elections in the state's history," Premier President Dave Byrd said in a statement. The claim "is based on events that occurred five or more years ago," he said.
The Maryland Board of Contract Appeals, an independent entity that resolves disputes between vendors and state agencies, will consider the claim.
The dispute comes as Maryland and Virginia prepare to scrap the electronic voting systems they bought after the 2000 presidential election. The machines, which have cost Maryland $65 million, were a state-of-the-art answer to the paper ballots that were seen as unreliable in Florida in 2000. Now, paper ballots read by optical scan machines are considered more reliable than the touch-screen ones, which officials and lawmakers have concluded could crash or be hacked into.
The neighborhood where an explosion destroyed a home on Christmas Eve, killing one person and injuring five others, was shut down briefly on Thursday after residents noticed a strong gas smell permeating the area.
An investigation on Christmas morning revealed a leaking five-gallon propane tank, which was then sealed. The neighborhood has since been reopened.
Investigators don't believe the leaking tank was related to Wednesday's explosion, and officials believe the area is safe again.
"The area is considered safe at this time," said Jeff Smith, spokesman with PG&E. Officials believe Wednesday's explosion was caused by a natural gas leak. It destroyed one house, leaving only charred remains at the end of a residential cul-de-sac, and damaged two others.
Fire officials estimated the structural damage to be approximately $700,000.
The affected homes have been cordoned off, but a voluntary evacuation issued Wednesday has been lifted. The National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation into the source of the natural gas leak on Monday, but PG&E crews will remain on the scene until then to make sure the area remains safe, Smith said.
Fire investigators have not yet determined what ignited the flames.
"The cause is undetermined because of so many variables," said Capt. Christian Pebbles with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. "There are many possible sources—a light
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switch, a pilot light, static electricity."
