President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on Monday said he would crack down heavily on any attempts to instigate a popular revolution in Russia, while laying claim to Moscow’s continued role as a civilising influence across the former Soviet Union.
Putin, dogged by protest-led regime change in three former Soviet states in the last 18 months, delivered a clear message in his annual policy speech that unrest would not be tolerated in Russia.
He told MPs and senior officials that Russian democracy would develop ”only by legal means” and that ”illegal methods in the fight for ethnic, religious or other interests are in contradiction with the principles of democracy”.
He added: ”The state would react to them in a legal but tough way.”
His speech appeared to respond to and reject a series of criticisms of the Kremlin’s ”managed democracy” made last week by Condoleezza Rice during her first visit to Moscow as United States secretary of state. ”As a sovereign state, Russia is capable of and would independently determine for itself the timing and conditions of movement in this direction,” Putin said.
In an attempt to appeal to growing nationalism in both Russia’s political elite and electorate, he mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said it was ”the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century. Specifically for the Russian people it became a real drama. Dozens of millions of our citizens and compatriots found themselves outside of the borders of Russian territory”.
Echoing nostalgia for Russia’s imperial past, he added: ”The Russian nation’s mission to bring further civilisation to the Euro-Asian continent must be continued.”
He said this would involve ”enriching and reinforcing our historical links through democratic values, multiplied by national interests”.
The call for Russia to boost its geopolitical influence in the region came, however, as its Foreign Secretary, Sergei Lavrov, emerged from talks with his Georgian counterpart, Salome Zurabishvili. Lavrov said they had made ”substantial progress” over the withdrawal of troops from two Russian military bases in the neighbouring state, which could now take place before the end of this year.
The issue has been a bone of contention between Moscow and Tbilisi, which has distanced itself from the Kremlin since the ”rose revolution” there in 2003. Analysts suggested the Kremlin is keen to have the issue resolved before the US President, George Bush, visits Georgia next month.
Putin, who is also troubled domestically by unpopular benefit reform and increasing discontent from the business elite, used the speech to offer concessions across the political spectrum. He hinted at a tax amnesty, allowing Russians to declare capital and bring it back to the country. He added that tax police, whose back-tax Bills have crippled the oil giant Yukos, should not be allowed to ”terrorise business”. He also suggested scrapping inheritance tax.
He held out a concession to US and European Union criticism of the Russian media, calling for greater objectivity on nationwide TV news, and for equal TV access for political parties. And he launched a populist attack on Russia’s bribe-hungry bureaucrats, saying they ”represent themselves as a caste, closed and arrogant, perceiving state service as just another kind of business”. – Guardian Unlimited Â