:: Russia - Russian party leaders comment on Medvedev's end-of-year interview

Representatives of all four State Duma parties have expressed their views on President Dmitriy Medvedev's interview to the heads of Russia's three main state networks on 24 December. The following are some of their comments as reported by Russian news agencies.

Communist MP Ivan Melnikov (Interfax): "I welcome the arrival of such programme (Medvedev's interview). Its format is fresh and intriguing. In many ways it was quite interesting because the heads of the TV companies asked extremely forthright and direct questions and received similar answers."

"(I) didn't like at all" Medvedev's statements about the local elections. "I am confident that in the current situation the number of lawsuits cannot be considered as the yardstick of the integrity of elections. In regions elections are rigged 'behind the scenes' "

"(Medvedev) often referred to the will of the people, not some sort of considerations of expediency "

"Having demonstrated his willingness to listen to public opinion the president appeared before the viewers as a searching and sincere person, not an arrogant and narcissist wise man, as it often happens with leaders at such level. To his advantage is the fact that he has retained these qualities in the second year of his presidency."

"(Medvedev) remains a hostage to a paradox: while possessing more managerial and moral consolidating potential for addressing topical problems than other representatives of the authorities he has effectively no-one to rely on; politics in Russia is not a case of words, statements and opinions translating into quality of life " " This is only possible where it is necessary to rectify small details, while we need to change a lot of things completely; this cannot be done unless one relies on a creative team."

Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy (Ekho Moskvy news agency): Medvedev's assessment of the extra-systemic opposition is "the right, objective assessment, kind assessment. The president is not branding them, is not criticizing them over anything, he is saying that they have failed to set up a system for themselves "

" All our democrats, radicals could have set up a united opposition democratic party and received their 7 per cent of the vote (necessary to enter parliament) - they won't get more."

"They put themselves in a situation where it is difficult to achieve success in elections, and they find themselves in a difficult situation where they cannot be represented in bodies of power "

" One should understand" that representatives of the extra-systemic opposition are "dissociated and do not want to set up parties or political movements which would be able to accumulate protest mood."

"They either have a weak leader, who cannot unite anything, or an excessively strong one, like Kasyanov (People's Democratic Union leader Mikhail Kasyanov - Ekho Moskvy) whose ambitions stop him from uniting with other leaders."

One Russia MP Andrey Vorobyev (ITAR-TASS): "The president said that the political system is not ideal and requires new modern approaches. As other spheres of life it should modernize. We have always shared this point of view and confirmed this with our actions, draft laws and party decisions "

A Just Russia MP Nikolay Levichev (Interfax): "If until now all the groaning by the opposition was a voice crying in the wilderness we are now constantly getting response, feedback "

"I think that Dmitriy Medvedev's words concerning the development of the political system in Russia are very important "

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