European ideals top Putin's address to nation

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia’s main political task was to develop as a free, democratic nation with European ideals, and stressed individual freedoms would not be compromised by the state’s own strengthening.

“We are a free nation and our place in the modern world will be defined only by how successful and strong we are,” Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address.

Politicians from Russia’s lower and upper houses of parliament, government officials, governors and religious representatives gathered in the Kremlin’s Marble Hall for the speech.

The address – Putin’s sixth of his two-term presidency – was to outline the main trends of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. It was Putin’s second state of the nation speech since he was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term in 2004.

Putin is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, but many Russians assume that the Kremlin will ensure a Putin loyalist wins the balloting in 2008.

After an uninterrupted period of high public opinion ratings, Putin’s own popularity has been dented over the past year by street protests over painful social reforms in Russia and his unsuccessful attempts to head off a popular uprising in the ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine.

Putin said the nation’s main challenges now were to strengthen the state, boost the rule of law and judicial institutions and deepen respect for both individual liberties and the activities of non-governmental organisations.

Political commentators had expected Putin to stress the need for strong measures to shore up the Russian state, mirroring a recent warning by his chief of staff that infighting among politicians may cause Russia to collapse. They also predicted he would reiterate Russia’s commitment to liberal reforms, and try to boost confidence in his earlier – and still largely unfulfilled - promises of affordable housing, health care and better living standards.

But unlike past speeches where Putin set ambitious goals for expanding Russia’s economy and improving social services, Russia’s Izvestia newspaper predicted today that this address could be “one of the most formal” of Putin’s career.

Critics have accused Putin of backsliding on democracy since coming to power in 2000 by restraining independent media, ending the direct election of governors, ensuring a compliant parliament and attacking politically ambitious tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.