Don't provoke protesters, ex-minister Kudrin tells Putin · 2011-12-15 17:08
Don’t provoke protesters, ex-minister Kudrin tells Putin
Russia’s ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin criticized on Thursday Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s remarks regarding the white ribbons worn by protesters at recent nationwide rallies against alleged electoral fraud.
During his annual televised Q&A session on Thursday, Putin compared the white ribbons that many protesters were wearing on their clothes during last week’s rallies to “some kind of contraceptives.”
“I disagree with such an attitude, because hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, and there is no need to provoke them,” Kudrin told journalists.
Kudrin lost his job as finance minister in September following a public row with President Dmitry Medvedev over Russia’s budget spending.
He also said “major violations" had taken place during the elections and that there had been “no adequate response” from the authoritioes over what to do to ensure fair elections.
Putin promised on Thursday that Kudrin would be offered a post in the new government.
“Kudrin has never left my team,” he said. “He is my long-standing comrade and a close friend.”
But Kudrin said he had yet to decide which presidential candidate to back: Putin or billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
“I would leave this question open because I would like Putin to propose some new approaches,” he said.
As for Prokhorov, Kudrin said he would like to see his program first before making up his mind.
Putin, who served two terms as president in 2000-2008 before being replaced by Dmitry Medvedev, is widely expected to win the March elections.
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