MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin worked to soften his authoritarian image Thursday, hinting at democratic concessions but also pushing back at protests that have rocked the country in recent weeks, saying demonstrators had been paid to show up.
Using a marathon televised question-and-answer session as his first full-scale response to demonstrations after a disputed parliamentary election earlier this month unsettled Russia’s stolid political order, Putin portrayed himself as tough but reasonable, agreeing that not all was perfect in the country he has led for 12 years.
If protests are “the result of ‘Putin’s regime,’ then it is good,” he said. “These are absolutely normal things, as long as all the actions are within the law.”
But Putin gave no indication he would be willing to agree to one of the protesters’ key demands, to rerun the parliamentary election in which his United Russia party was dealt a major blow, even amid allegations that ballot-stuffing offset even greater losses.
Still, he said he might be willing to allow small political parties to register, to put Web cameras in every polling place as a measure against fraud and to surrender some of the Kremlin’s control over regional politics. And in comments to reporters after the broadcast, he added that if he were re-elected president, he would entertain freeing billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested in 2003 on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement that many viewed as suspect.
Many of the questions he was asked had a harsher edge than in years past. Russians asked Putin about corruption, the sagging economy, the elections and about protesters who dispute the Dec. 4 vote and the notion that Putin will coast to an easy victory in presidential elections in March.
“There is nothing new about the falsification claims and the opposition’s discontent with the election results,” Putin said, adding that it happens after every election around the world.
