War toughens up Russia's soft-spoken President

RUSSIA: Once seen as a soft-spoken liberal, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sharpened his tongue since last month's war in Georgia, slamming his foes as "bastards" and "low-lifes".

With his new tone, analysts say Medvedev is echoing his predecessor, ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putin, who was elected president in 2000 after promising to wipe out Chechen rebels "even in the outhouse".

It is a striking change for Medvedev, a corporate lawyer by training who grew up in an academic family in the former imperial capital St. Petersburg.

When he outmanoeuvred a hawkish rival to become president in May he raised hopes in the West of a softer, friendlier Russia.

But those hopes were swiftly dashed last month when Russia rolled its tanks into Georgia, a close US ally, in response to a Georgian attack on the Moscow-backed separatist region of South Ossetia.

MOSCOW, Thursday, AFP