Putin promises reforms

RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running for a third term as president, yesterday promised Russians a bigger say in politics amid the growing public discontent with his dominance of power. In a campaign article published in the Kommersant daily on Monday, Putin said the government must turn around its institutions to accommodate the increasingly vocal grass roots.

"The quality of our public governance is lagging behind the willingness of civil society to take part in it," he said.

Putin, who was Russia's president in 2000-2008, is facing a wave of public discontent over widespread election fraud in the Dec. 4 parliamentary election. AP