MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his clout in the lower house of parliament was grossly exaggerated. "My influence on the [State] Duma is naturally substantial but it is overly exaggerated because parliamentarians have their own opinion on some issues," Putin said in an interview with Spanish media ahead of a visit to the country, which starts Wednesday.
He said the deputies had to run in the next elections in 2007, and therefore had to heed the public's views and the opinion of their voters.
When asked why he was not pushing for the ratification in parliament of a protocol banning capital punishment, Putin said Russia had a moratorium on death penalty.
"I do not raise issues that would arouse a negative reaction or rejection [among parliamentarians]," Putin said, adding that he managed to achieve agreement with the majority of Duma deputies owing to constant work with them.
In further comments on capital punishment, the president said: "Any punishment pursues several goals: correction and punishment. The death penalty does not lead to any correction, but is merely punishment, and it is even unclear of whom. The person who the state kills does not feel anything, unlike society, which assumes the right to claim a human life." Besides, judicial system often makes mistakes, Putin said.
He continued he would seek a ban on capital punishment but "carefully, in harmony with public sentiments," and with respect for parliament's opinion.
Unlike other countries that are considered civilized and democratic, Russia does not apply the death penalty, Putin said.
