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Putin Vows to Continue Liberal Reforms in Russia

02 March 2012 02:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pledged to continue liberal reforms in the country if elected president on Sunday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

The statement came during Putinâ€™s interview with editors-in-chief of several leading foreign newspapers in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow.

When asked whether he was going to â€œtighten the screwsâ€ on Russiaâ€™s opposition if he returned to the Kremlin, Putin said: â€œWhy should we do this? Just opposite, President [Dmitry] Medvedev has just introduced an entire package of laws to parliament which would liberalize our political system.â€

â€œWhere do these fears come from? We are not planning anything like this,â€ he went on. â€œWe are doing just the opposite. Our proposals are aimed at launching dialogue with everybody, both with our supporters and critics.â€

The editors-in-chief of Franceâ€™s Le Monde, Britainâ€™s The Times, Italyâ€™s La Repubblica, Germanyâ€™s Handelsblatt, Canadaâ€™s The Globe and Mail and Japanâ€™s Asahi Shimbun newspaper participated in the interview.