Putin Says He'll Retain Influence In Russia After Term Ends in '08

President Vladimir Putin speaks at his annual question-and answer session with Russians. Topics included local issues as well as tensions with Georgia. (By Vladimir Rodionov -- Associated Press)

MOSCOW, Oct. 25 -- With his trademark indefatigability and command of detail, President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from Russians for nearly three hours Wednesday in an annual televised session that has become a ritual of presidential stagecraft here.

Putin, who has sworn off amending the constitution to allow himself a third term, reiterated his determination to step down in 2008 but said he would continue to influence the country's direction.

"Even having lost the powers and the levers of presidential power and not tailoring the basic law according to my personal interests, I will manage to retain the most important thing that a person involved in politics must cherish -- your trust," Putin said. "And using that, you and I will be able to exert influence on the life of our country and guarantee its development."

Each year, Russians are invited to send in questions by e-mail, phone and text message for Putin to answer, and this year more than 2 million questions poured in. Putin selects some questions, and others are chosen by the two national television stations that broadcast the event. People from across Russia also pose questions live.

The session reinforces the popular perception here of Putin as an open, capable and responsive leader. The latest opinion poll by the independent Levada Center gave the president a 77 percent approval rating.

Many questions dealt with local or bread-and-butter issues, and Putin, speaking directly into the camera without notes, cited one fact or statistic after another to highlight progress in areas from medical care to road-building. Answering a question about the poor quality of roads in Russia's Far East, for instance, he recalled that a black gravel layer was being laid on the Chita-Khabarovsk highway and that an asphalt layer would be finished by 2010.

On Georgia, Putin said Russia's policies toward its southern neighbor were primarily motivated by a desire to prevent bloodshed over the status of two breakaway regions of Georgia that are seeking independence. Georgia has accused Russia of fueling separatism in those zones.

Putin condemned the targeting of Georgians living here by Russian law enforcement agencies, which a Russian television anchor called a "hunt" after reports that police were demanding lists of schoolchildren with Georgian names.

"You know the Russian saying, 'Make a fool pray to God, and he will smash his head praying,' " Putin said. "I cannot approve of selective actions on ethnic grounds. On the contrary, I am calling on all law enforcement bodies and administrative bodies to refrain from such actions."

Human rights groups have charged that Putin inflamed passions here when he said that wholesale markets, where many members of ethnic minorities work, should be monitored "to protect the interests of Russian producers and population, the native Russian population."

Putin said contract killings, the bane of Russian life in the 1990s, had declined in recent years, despite the murders in the past two months of a central banker, a leading journalist and a mayoral candidate.

"The obligation of the state is to bring any such investigation to the end. This concerns the killings of mass media representatives and killings in the economic sphere," Putin said.

Putin also said jocular comments he made about allegations that Israeli President Moshe Katsav had raped 10 women were reported by journalists who "were already leaving the room and heard only dimly what was said about it and then they started speculating on the topic." He said he condemns violence against women.

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, Putin was reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant to have said: "Greetings to your president. What a powerful man he turns out to be! He raped 10 women. I would never have expected this from him. He surprised us all. We all envy him."

On Wednesday, Putin said: "Ten women announced there that the president had raped them, and corruption allegations have recently been leveled at the prime minister. In my view, this can be explained by the fact that a significant number of Israelis are dissatisfied with their leadership's actions in the conflict with Lebanon."

As for the journalists who overheard him, Putin, a former KGB officer, said: "I could tell you a joke that we used when I worked in an absolutely different outfit: They were sent to keep an eye on us, and instead they are eavesdropping on us. It's a shame."