A meeting with opposition delegates has not been included in Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s agenda yet, but the premier is ready for such a dialog, his spokesman said.
At a meeting with heads of leading Russian media on Wednesday evening, Putin repeatedly expressed readiness too meet with his political opponents, including the recently established “League of Voters,” a civic group set up by several prominent Russian public figures to defend the rights of the voters.
Its founders, including Rock musician Yuri Shevchuk and popular novelist Boris Akunin, have promised to stay away from politics, stressing that their initiative was purely civil and described the coalition members as “people who don’t have political ambitions.”
"There is no such meeting on the agenda. As you can see, [Putin’s] schedule is quite busy. But Putin has never rejected an opportunity to meet with members of any group, except for those outlawed. And he confirmed it [on Wednesday],” the premier’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Putin's spokesman said that so far the premier received no request for talks from any opposition force.
A League of Voters founder, popular blogger Rustem Adagamov, said earlier on Thursday that the organization is currently in discussion on a list of issues that should be discussed at a meeting with Putin.
Speaking at an informal dinner with football fans in St. Petersburg on Thursday evening, Putin said that he did not follow political topics on the internet closely, but was satisfied with the level of political discussions in the Russian society.
He also said that “only political competitiveness will help us to create conditions for full-scale development.”
"I don’t feel discouraged, annoyed or upset at what is going on at the moment - I’m glad about it, I've wanted it,” Putin said.
