Russian officials one click away from being sacked

Russia's new president, who in an interview with the 'Itogi' magazine before his election in March had said that he even watches the television news online, has warned government officials they face the sack unless they learn how to use a computer.  

"Civil servants who don't have elementary computer skills cannot work effectively," he said during a nationally televised meeting with federal and regional officials.  
"We don't hire people who can't read and write. Computer literacy today is the same," Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Mail online of Britain.  

Determined to increase transparency, the 42-year-old leader has made it his mission to see that the government carried out more of its work online. He claimed that with the increase in the government's online work it would make corruption more difficult to hide, the report said.  

Blaming the bureaucracy for the foot-dragging on poor computer skills, Medvedev said there had been no real progress toward putting documents, government purchase orders or the results of government-funded research online, despite years of talk about establishing an "electronic government".  

Internet penetration in Russia is among the lowest in Europe, with only 12 percent of people age 15 or older online, according to a 2007 study by Internet research company comScore.