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Russia election: Putin accepts 'lawful' protests Russia election: Putin accepts 'lawful' protests
(40 minutes later)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said protests over alleged fraud at this month's election are acceptable if demonstrators stay within the law. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said protests over alleged fraud in parliamentary elections are acceptable if demonstrators stay within the law.
He said he would ask for web cameras to be installed at all polling stations in time for the March presidential election as a precaution against fraud.He said he would ask for web cameras to be installed at all polling stations in time for the March presidential election as a precaution against fraud.
But insisted the results had reflected the balance of political forces. But he insisted the results reflected the balance of political forces.
Mr Putin, who is standing for president himself, was speaking in an annual televised live chat with the nation.Mr Putin, who is standing for president himself, was speaking in an annual televised live chat with the nation.
"I saw on television mostly young, active people clearly expressing their positions - I am pleased to see this," he said, after protests on Saturday which saw 50,000 people turn out in Moscow alone. "The fact that people express their opinion... is an absolutely normal thing as long, of course, as everybody acts within the framework of the law," he said, after protests on Saturday which saw around 50,000 people turn out in Moscow alone.
"I saw on television mostly young, active people clearly expressing their positions - I am pleased to see this."
"If this is the result of the Putin regime I am quite happy and quite content with that. I don't see anything wrong with it," he added.
Thursday is the deadline for would-be presidential candidates to declare their bid.
Mr Putin, who served two terms as president from 2000 to 2008, was obliged under the Russian constitution to step aside after his second term but is now entitled to stand again.
'Web cams everywhere'
Instances of ballot-stuffing were identified widely by Russian activists using social media to report them.
Concern over the conduct of the December parliamentary elections was expressed by foreign observers from the OSCE and others.
"As regards vote-rigging and the fact that the opposition are not pleased with the election results, there is nothing new here, this has always been the case," said Mr Putin.
"The opposition is there to fight for power and is fighting for power. That is why it is seeking any opportunity to come closer to power, to edge the current authorities out, to accuse them, to point to their mistakes."
Mr Putin appeared to mock some opposition protesters, likening their white ribbon symbol to a condom.
"I decided that it was an anti-Aids campaign... that they had, excuse me, pinned on contraceptives, only folding them in a strange way," he said.
He said he was asking Russia's central electoral commission to install web cameras at all polling stations, saying he believed there were more than 90,000 of them.
"Let them operate round the clock, night and day, transmitting everything to the internet, so that the country sees what is happening at a specific ballot box, to remove any falsifications altogether," Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin laughed off a Russian press row over a photo of a spoilt ballot-paper on which was scrawled an obscene message addressed to himself.
Referring to the report in Kommersant Vlast magazine, which led to the sacking of two top executives by its owner, he said: "The ballot-paper was photographed in London and you and I know who live in London."
It was not clear whom Mr Putin was referring to but the UK is frequently accused by Moscow of harbouring fugitives from justice in Russia.
On another point, the resignation of Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin this year, Mr Putin said Mr Kudrin, a respected figure in financial circles, could return to serve in a future government.