In an interview with Russian IT news site CNews, Microsoft Russia President Olga Dergunova responds to critics of the piracy crackdown which caught school-teacher Alexander Ponosov in the cross-hairs and prompted a personal request from former Soviet Premiere Gorbachev for Bill Gates to intervene on the teacher's behalf.

Dergunova avoided most questions about Microsoft's reaction to, and position on, the criminal prosecution of Alexander Ponosov for using unlicensed software in the Sepych school. However, Dergunova was very quick to react when asked about the Education Minister Nikolay Karpushin and his new plan to avoid legal hassles; Convert the school system to open source alternatives, eschewing Microsoft products. She retorts, "We are confident in the high quality of our products, in the way Windows develops, in our superb Microsoft Office product. Considering the fact that the right price policy is chosen, when education facilities might have a special software price offer, the competition is quite decent. We will continue our work to bring all the necessary information on our price policy on Microsoft products for schools to educational departments," adding, "Microsoft products are being successfully used at schools, they help children become literate computer users."

Meanwhile, Alexander Ponosov faces a possible five year prison sentence and up to $10,000 US in fines. His defense rests on the supplier of 16 PCs to the Sepych school district. Ponosov admits that when he took delivery of the new computers he was mostly unaware of what software had been pre-installed, or what documentation to expect would be included. The Business Software Alliance estimates that up to 83% of all software installed in Russia is pirated, and admits that computer resellers in that nation often pass illegal copies on to unwitting consumers.

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Gorbachev asks Gates to show mercy on pirate teacher

Bill Gates has been asked by former Soviet Premiere Gorbachev to show "mercy" in the case of a Russian teacher accused of software piracy. Gorbachev's open letter to Gates is available on the website of the former Premiere's charitable foundation. According to CNN, in the letter Gorbachev calls accused pirate Alexander Ponosov, "A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company." He warns Gates that Ponosov faces, "detention in Siberian prison camps," if convicted.

As part of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization the country has undertaken a massive crackdown on piracy. Russia often appears on the world's top-list of intellectual property gray areas for reasons including but not limited to its mostly hands-off handling of illegal MP3 download site AllofMp3.