Vladimir Putin urged his compatriots to unite to build a strong Russia Wednesday after a tense election contest, in a speech to parliament overshadowed by an unprecedented walkout by opposition deputies.
After winning the March presidential election despite an outburst of protests against his rule, Putin outlined in a keynote address his vision for Russia’s future as a top five global economy with a growing population.
But in a sign his upcoming six year Kremlin mandate may not be as unchallenged as his past 12 years in charge of Russia, an entire opposition faction walked out of the session in protest at one of Putin’s comments.
Delivering one of his last major speeches as prime minister before his May 7 inauguration as Kremlin chief, Putin said the country had come through a “tense” period of “heightened emotions and political battles”.
But he said it was time for all forces to work together after the turbulence of parliamentary and presidential elections that saw the opposition hold up to 100,000-strong rallies in protest at what they said were rigged polls.
“The logic of a mature democracy is that elections come to an end and afterwards a new — and far more important period — of joint work begins,” said Putin.
“We only have one Russia, and her modern development must be the goal that unites all the political forces of the country who want to work on this aim.”
Putin told the State Duma lower house of parliament that the 2008-2009 economic crisis was so serious it could have endangered Russia’s sovereignty but boasted that the country had now fully recovered under his rule.
“If we could not have responded to the crisis… it would have put in doubt the sovereignty and the geopolitical integrity of the country and buried for a long time any ideas of modernisation and development,” he said.
But his message of unity was partially undermined by the walkout of almost the entire faction of 64 deputies from the A Just Russia party, in protest at his answer to a question about one of their members who is on hunger strike.
A Just Russia’s Oleg Shein has been on hunger strike for 26 days along with several supporters over alleged vote rigging which he says caused his defeat in a mayoral election in the Russian Volga city of Astrakhan.
Putin said he had no authority to intervene in the case and urged the candidate to go to court. He also questioned why the hunger strike was declared before any appeal had been filed.
Faction leader Sergei Mironov, previously known as an ally of Putin, “gave the order to leave the chamber because of Putin’s rudeness,” A Just Russia deputy Ilya Ponomaryov tweeted.
Putin served the last four years as prime minister after emerging as Russia’s undisputed number one in his 2000-2008 two terms as president, after which he temporarily handed the Kremlin to his protege Dmitry Medvedev.
The Russian strongman — who could potentially serve two new six year terms to keep him in power until 2024 — in his speech targeted a series of challenges that would build a stronger post-Soviet Russia.
Putin earmarked Russia’s number one priority as reversing its post-Soviet population decline which created worries about its ability to keep sustainable populations in its far-flung Siberia and Far East regions.
