Putin warns against despotism, chaos in Russia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday warned against the dangers of totalitarianism and despotism but said Russia must not adopt a similar political system to its neighbour Ukraine.
"We shouldn't allow the 'Ukraine-ization' of political life in Russia but we should on no account slide in the other direction, towards totalitarianism and despotism," Putin said.

Ukraine last week held the first round of presidential elections that were hailed by international observers as "high quality" and offering a wide choice of candidates. But the country also suffers from chronic political instability. Speaking at a major meeting chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev and attended by Russia's political elite, Putin called for cautious reform of the Russian political system.

"We need to bring in necessary amendments but we need to act extremely carefully," he said, speaking at a meeting of leaders of political parties.

"Any effective political system needs a healthy level of conservatism. A political system shouldn't wobble like liquid jelly every time it's touched," he said.

Putin harshly rejected a call for officials to examine complaints on the Internet about vote rigging in the recent regional elections.

"On the Internet 50 percent is porn material. Why should we refer to the Internet?" he said.

Putin's stern comments contrasted with a speech by Medvedev, who called for a shake-up of the country's political system to promote opposition parties, criticising "non-existent" competition in local government.

The more tech-savvy Medvedev is also a keen user of the Internet and has a video blog. At the meeting, which included the leaders of all Russia's registered parties, Medvedev called "astonishing" the fact that almost 50 percent of deputies in regional councils are members of the ruling United Russia party.

Communists make up two percent of deputies, while A Just Russia has one percent and the Liberal Democrat Party has less than one percent, he said.

"This situation is simply astonishing. It shows that our parties, primarily the opposition ones, still work very weakly at a municipal level," Medvedev said.

"Real political competition is virtually non-existent there."

Medvedev's comments were backed by Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the liberal Yabloko party, which has no seats in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma. "There is a lack of real, full political discussion," he complained. "Political parties are unable to work in such conditions."

Medvedev said he would send a draft bill Friday to the State Duma guaranteeing all parties that gain more than five percent of votes in elections a seat in regional parliaments.

United Russia, which is led by Putin even though he is not a card-carrying member, holds a majority of 315 out of 450 seats in the Duma.

"Our political system works. It's far from being ideal but it works," said Medvedev.

Medvedev's address was his latest call for reform in Russia, coming after a keynote speech in November where he urged Russia's transformation into a democratic, high-tech society.

Analysts have praised Medvedev for making a sequence of promising statements since taking over the Kremlin from Putin in May 2008 but some have criticised him for failing to translate the ambitious words into practice.

Most observers believe that despite Putin's subsequent move to prime minister he still remains Russia's de-facto number one.


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