By JUDITH INGRAM
The Associated Press
Monday, June 5, 2006; 2:36 PM

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin on Monday sidestepped harsh criticism of the level of media freedom in Russia, telling an international meeting that the country could not have made the huge transition from the Soviet era were it not for the press.

"Without a free press, the great transformations of the 1990s would have been simply impossible, and today I would like once again to underline the not only special but irreplaceable role of the written word in the making of the new Russia," Putin said at the World Newspaper Congress.

Putin said that many in the world still fail to acknowledge the "grandiosity" of the changes since the Soviet collapse and, with a hint of sarcasm, thanked delegates to the World Newspaper Congress for not allowing themselves to be "scared off" by dire reports of a lack of media freedom in Russia.

Putin was responding to an address to more than 1,700 delegates by Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers, who appealed personally to Putin to "take vital new measures ... to help your great country develop the strong independent press that it merits."

After Putin arrived at the dais in the Kremlin Palace, two young people stood up, unfurled a red-and-white flag with a hammer and sickle on it and chanted, "Putin is the executioner of freedom!"

Security agents bundled the two, apparently members of the radical National Bolshevik Party, out of the hall.

Critics at home and abroad have accused Putin of stifling media freedom as part of a broader effort to increase the Kremlin's control over Russian politics and society since he came to power more than six years ago.

The three main nationwide television channels are controlled by the state and do not criticize the president, a situation rights activists say is reminiscent of the Soviet era. In addition to television and radio stations, many newspapers and magazines remain highly dependent on local and regional authorities.

Putin's reference to the changes of the 1990s was telling for its omission: He took over as prime minister only in 1999, and became president the following year. He did not directly address any of the criticism O'Reilly made of the worsening media climate during his six years in office.

O'Reilly told Putin that many of the organization's members had disagreed with the decision to hold the congress in Russia, saying they saw the state as "reluctant to forgo control and influence over the media." He said that while the government had taken some steps in the tax sphere to ease the lot of newspapers, they "must be accompanied by dramatic improvement in the political environment in which the press operates."

He said the state encouraged self-censorship and suggested that the former domination of the media by the so-called oligarchs _ politically connected tycoons _ had been replaced by state control. Putin challenged that, saying that state ownership in media was decreasing while the number of media outlets was increasing.

"Our belief is that history will judge your legacy as president, whether in Russia or in the rest of the world, as much by the fate of the media _ perhaps more _ than by any other measure," O'Reilly said.

Putin pointed to the venue, where the Soviet Communist Party used to hold its congresses, as proof of the distance Russia has come.

"Today we are discussing problems of a free press and, in a pretty critical vein, we, the hosts, are listening to our guests. It would have been impossible even to conceive of this 15 years ago," Putin said.

"Though it's true, we couldn't get away from the Bolsheviks," he said, referring with a smile to the demonstrators.

Putin arrived too late to witness the presentation of the 2006 Golden Pen of Freedom award to Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji, but he did watch a video summary of media freedom violations all over the world, including in Russia's allies Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

According to the World Association of Newspapers, media organization leaders from 110 countries are attending the annual event.