Russia's upper house of parliament defied President Vladimir Putin's plans for a radical shake-up of the country's constitutional order yesterday, voting overwhelmingly to veto his campaign to restrain Russia's 89 unruly regions.
The regional governors who sit in the federation council, or upper house, one by one denounced the Kremlin's scheme to strip them of their automatic right to seats in the chamber, of immunity from prosecution, and to introduce mechanisms that could see them removed from office.
But if the governors were understandably reluctant to sign their own death warrants, their snubbing of Mr Putin is unlikely to prove productive, nor is it likely to kill the scheme.
Yesterday's ballot - 129 against and 13 in favour - means that the bill goes back to the Duma, or lower house - where it was passed last week by a resounding 308 votes - for rubber-stamping. A two-thirds majority of 300 in the 450-strong lower chamber would overrule yesterday's veto.
The bill also strips the regional leaders of immunity from prosecution, raising the prospect of corruption cases against those who defy Moscow.
Helicopter gunships strafed guerrillas fighting Russian troops in the forests of Chechnya yesterday, in a battle that has cost 12 Russian lives, according to the Kremlin.
Chechen guerrillas, who have been resisting Russian forces from mountain hideouts, said Russian losses were much higher.