Putin promises deeper reform

Mr Putin asked deputies to remember casualties in Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given notice of wholesale reforms in a hard-hitting state of the nation address criticising almost every aspect of Russian society.

The disintegration of the state, mentioned in [my] last address, has been arrested

Vladimir Putin

He said bribery and bureaucracy were crippling the economy, and that abuse and corruption flourished in the country's judicial system.

He said the customs, pensions, health and education systems all needed shaking up and said there would be further changes to the tax system on top of those his government has already introduced.

He also said the country's fuel, energy and railway monopolies required restructuring.

Criticism

But he was criticised for failing to spell out detailed policies.

Putin: Demand for structural reform to the economy

Former deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov described the speech as "vague".

"It shows we are not going to make any fantastic breakthrough, but instead to cautiously and meekly move forward," he said.

Mr Putin has been criticised by Russian liberals for failing to make more progress on economic reform during his first year in office, when economic conditions, including annual growth of 7.7%, were very favourable.

Yevgeny Volk of the Heritage Foundation think tank said there was a "lack of clear-cut legislation".

"It was very symbolic that Putin did not deal with how he was going to tackle corruption. That is clearly a top priority," he said.

Other observers noted that he did not mention other pressing concerns, such as reform of the armed forces, or safeguarding freedom of the press.

Disintegration halted

Putin started out portraying himself as a military leader... Now he portrays himself as an able manager

Igor Bunin, Centre for Political Technologies

Igor Bunin, director of the Centre for Political Technologies said the speech was presented like a "business plan" and was intended to show the president's will "to get things done".

"Putin started out portraying himself as a military leader. This changed to the image of a father listening to problems," he added.

"Now he portrays himself as an able manager."

Foreign policy

For the first time in a Russian presidential state of the nation address, Mr Putin did not mention US-Russian relations.

In the last few months the worsening state of several economic indicators raises concern, especially against the background of the uncertain development of the world economy

Vladimir Putin

He said a course of integration with Europe would be "one of the main directions of our foreign policy".

Listing his government's achievements, he focused on the reform of the upper house of parliament, and the creation of a system of presidential representatives to strengthen the Kremlin's control of Russia's regions.

He also noted that Russia had experienced its strongest economic growth for 30 years, and that tax revenues had increased.

But he went on to say that standards of living remained low, and that as the rate of growth slowed, there was a risk of stagnation.

He said it was essential to carry out structural economic reforms.

'Shadow' justice

Some of his sharpest words were directed at the legal and judicial systems.

We are in fact standing at a dangerous threshold when judges... may choose norms which please them most

Vladimir Putin

"Along with the shadow economy, we have shadow justice," Mr Putin said, adding that the public had lost faith in the courts.

He said one million Russians were in detention awaiting trial, when many of them had committed crimes which did not require custodial sentences.

He admitted that investigations took years, and that the state was not able to provide decent conditions in jails.