MOSCOW, MARCH 15 (Reuters) Russian president Vladimir Putin today rebuffed US criticism of his landslide re-election, saying no democracy was perfect, not even America's.
Putin won a second Kremlin term yesterday with over 70 percent of the vote, but only after US secretary of state Colin Powell said it was 'not good' that Putin's rivals had been denied equal access to the media during the campaign.
"I think nobody has the right to think that if they criticise others, that they shouldn't be criticised themselves," Putin told a post-election news conference.
"We have a saying that some people, who see a speck of dust in the eye of another, don't see the log in their own eye.
"In many so-called developed democracies there are also many problems with their own democratic and voting procedures.
And we, nearly four years ago, saw in amazement how the American system voting system suffered glitches." Putin was referring to the Cliffhanger US presidential election in 2000, when George W.
Bush beat Al Gore only after a series of court rulings over the validity of punch-card ballots in the swing state of Florida.
Powell told Fox News yesterday he did not understand why opposition candidates had been prevented from taking full part in the Russian presidential race.
"It's not good, but I don't think it's the end of democracy in Russia," Powell said.
But the riposte of the Russian leader, who has forged a close personal relationship with Bush during the past four years, was low-key.
He put Washington's chiding down to the pressure of Bush's own bid to win a second term in November.
"We won't overlook this critical observation.
We will analyse it and if we find that there is something to reflect on.
We won't only take note of it, but also draw the appropriate conclusions," Putin said.
"It is useful if we, in a friendly way, draw each other's attention to any shortcomings, because in my opinion it shouldn't lead to confrontation, but to the improvement of our democratic systems and voting procedures." About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information hosted on this website is accurate CHAIRMAN: VED BHASIN Kashmir Times Group of Publications Edited, printed and published by Prabodh Jamwal Editor-in-Chief, The Kashmir Times, Residency Road, Jammu, J&K, INDIA.
Executive Editor: Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal E-Mail: vbhasin@sancharnet.in, jmt_prabodh@sancharnet.in