Medvedev criticises external influences on protests

PRESIDENT DMITRY Medvedev has warned foreign powers and “provocateurs and extremists” not to meddle in Russia’s affairs ahead of another major anti-government rally.

Mr Medvedev used his last state of the nation address to tell dissenting Russians that he supported “comprehensive reform” of the country’s political system and understood the frustrations of those who had taken to the streets to criticise him and prime minister Vladimir Putin.

The two men’s plan to simply swap jobs after next March’s presidential election added to growing public anger over endemic corruption, massive inequality and national politics and media that have largely been purged of opposition voices.

That anger erupted in street protests a day after December 4th general elections that people across Russia said were riddled with fraud. Moscow’s biggest rally in 20 years drew some 50,000 people, and organisers hope for a bigger turnout at a demonstration planned for tomorrow.

Mr Putin has said he will tolerate protests that do not break the law, but he also angrily accused the US of triggering the demonstrations with criticism of the elections in a bid to destabilise Russia. He denounced Russian NGOs that accept foreign funding.

“Attempts to manipulate Russian citizens, lead them astray and incite strife in society are unacceptable . . . Russia needs democracy and not chaos,” Mr Medvedev told parliament in yesterday’s address.

“We will not allow provocateurs and extremists to drag society into their schemes . . . We will not allow interference from outside in our internal affairs.”

Mr Medvedev – whom many people hoped in vain would be a liberaliser while in the Kremlin – insisted: “I hear those who are talking about political changes, and I understand them. Today, at a new stage in the development of our state, supporting the initiative proposed by our prime minister . . . I propose comprehensive reform of our political system.”

Mr Medvedev proposed that regional governors should once more be elected rather than effectively appointed by the Kremlin, reversing one of Mr Putins major reforms. He suggested changes that would make it easier for parties and individuals to compete in parliamentary and presidential elections, and backed the creation of a new television channel whose content would be decided by neither businessmen nor the state.

Opposition leaders said Mr Medvedev’s proposals were too meagre and vague to appease Russians sick of the elite and increasingly willing to criticise it in public.

Though the United Russia party of Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin won the general election, it secured less than 50 per cent of all votes and saw its share of ballots fall by 15 per cent from four years earlier.

Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky compared current events to the Soviet collapse 20 years ago, when Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to reform the system only hastened its demise. “The system is decomposing. They are frantically trying to find ways to preserve it, but these chaotic measures just bring it closer to the end,” he said.