Putin: talks with opposition won't be a conversation of equals

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Dec 28 rejected calls to hold talks with opposition leaders who have drawn tens of thousands of Russians to protest rallies to demand free elections and an end to his 12-year rule.

The opposition leaders “do not have a common platform, so there is nobody to talk to,” Putin told journalists from state news agencies.

Organizers of the Moscow demonstrations include prominent public figures and representatives of various opposition groups. But they have passed joint resolutions with a list of concrete demands, including a rerun of the fraud-tainted Dec. 4 parliamentary election, the resignation of the Central Election Commission chief and the removal of barriers that have prevented opposition parties from taking part in elections.

Putin on Tuesday firmly rejected the demands for a rerun of the election. The government has promised to ease rules for opposition candidates.

Putin, who served as president in 2000-2008, is now seeking a third term in a March vote. But his authority was dented by the Dec. 4 election, in which his party lost 25 percent of its seats and barely retained its majority despite widespread allegations of vote-rigging in its favor.

Asked Wednesday about his refusal to take part in campaign debates, Putin said they make no sense since the opposition leaders are “not burdened with real work” and “always demand the impossible.”

“This would not be a conversation of equals,” he was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying. Putin promised to arrange to get “younger brothers” from the government to take part in the televised debates, The Washington Post reported.