From Deseret News archives:
Russian president lashes out at political opponents, West in campaign address
Putin's strongly worded attack on his critics came as he seeks to secure a high turnout and strong support for the dominant main pro-Kremlin party in parliamentary elections Dec. 2. Putin is leading United Russia's ticket in what is widely seen a maneuver to retain a grip on power after he steps down next spring.
"Those who confront us need a weak and ill state. They want to have a divided society, in order to do their deeds behind its back," Putin warned, saying a strong United Russia majority in parliament is needed to preserve his course.
Addressing thousands of backers in an event that mixed the flavors of a U.S. political convention and a Soviet-era Communist Party congress, he painted a grim picture of the turmoil in the 1990s in Russia and suggested that his Western-backed political foes were bent on turning the clock back.
"Regrettably, there are those inside the country who count on support of foreign funds and governments, and not their own people," Putin said.
"Now, they're going to take to the streets. They have learned from Western experts and have received some training in neighboring (ex-Soviet) republics. And now they are going to stage provocations here," he said, raising the specter of the upheavals that brought Western-oriented leaders to power in Georgia and Ukraine.
The statement appeared to refer to opposition rallies planned this weekend in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Police have forcefully dispersed several previous marches and demonstrations, beating and detaining scores of protesters.
Without naming nations or specific parties, he railed against his liberal, pro-business and Communist opponents, evoking the frightening economic and political uncertainty that pervaded Russia in the years before and after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
"If these gentlemen come back to power, they will again cheat people and fill their pockets," he said. "They want to restore an oligarchic regime, based on corruption and lies."
The comments constituted Putin's fiercest verbal attack on opponents ahead of the election, which the popular leader has turned into a referendum on his policies by announcing last month that he would lead United Russia.
The move appeared aimed at securing a strong parliamentary majority for United Russia, which is far less popular than the president himself, and providing Putin — who is barred from seeking a third straight term in March presidential elections — with a powerful lever to maintain influence after he steps down.
