Russia Still Heading for Democracy, Putin Says

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, in an apparent response to criticism by President Bush, said Tuesday that his country was committed to the democratic ideal but would pursue it in its own way.

In televised remarks two days before a scheduled meeting with Bush in Bratislava, Slovakia, Putin noted that Russia had chosen a democratic path 14 years ago “not in order to make itself agreeable to someone, but for its own good.”

“Naturally, the fundamental principles of democracy and the institutions of democracy must be adapted to the reality of today’s life in Russia, to our traditions and history,” he said. “And this is something that we will do on our own.”

During Putin’s presidency, the Kremlin has tightened its control over the media, the legal system, parliament and regional governments. Putin has sought to justify these steps by arguing that Russia must build a stronger state to fight terrorism.

Speaking in Brussels on Monday at the start of a four-day trip to Europe, Bush expressed concern about such developments.

“For Russia to make progress as a European nation, the Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law,” Bush declared.

Putin said that “an amiable point of view from the outside, even a critical point of view, will do us no harm. Conversely, it will only help us.” But he stressed that discussion of democracy “should always be a two-way dialogue.”

“We are against the use of such problems as an instrument of attaining one’s foreign policy objectives, or turning Russia into an amorphous state,” the Russian president said.

The bulk of Putin’s comments emphasized the common interests of Russia and the United States.

“Indeed, the president of the United States has called me his friend on many occasions, and I consider him to be my friend, too,” Putin said.

“As for the fundamental relations between Russia and the United States ... these relations have, probably, never been at such a high level as today,” Putin said. “Both the level of trust and the level of interaction on key problems of the present-day world are very high.”

Some Russian human rights leaders welcomed Bush’s statement but said it must be accompanied by action.

Alexei G. Arbatov, a former member of parliament who is a leader of the pro-democracy Yabloko party, said at a Moscow news conference that Bush’s comments about democracy in Russia did not carry much weight because his administration’s record of unilateral action in international affairs undercut the effect of his words.

“Russia can respond that ‘you’re no better,’ ” Arbatov said. “For us, being a Russian democratic party, it’s more useful when European countries are talking about democracy, in particular countries of the European Union, because their reputation in those matters is a lot higher than the U.S. reputation.”

That is because the Bush administration “is acting in the international arena not in accordance with principles of the rule of law and coordination of interests,” Arbatov said.

“It is clear that Bush pronounced these words in front of an audience which actually wanted to hear him say that,” said Lev Ponomaryov, a veteran Russian activist who heads the For Human Rights movement. “A lot will depend on the game that George Bush is playing. If he meets with Putin in two days, looks the latter in the eyes and says: ‘You know, Vladimir, I only said this for the public. It was just a smokescreen, do not worry,’ then Bush’s statement yesterday will not have much meaning and the overall situation will not change.”

Democratic development in Russia depends not so much on what the Kremlin does as the efforts of “the semi-throttled opposition movements,” Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the USA-Canada Institute, a Moscow think tank, said in an interview.

“If these movements interpret George Bush’s words as a go-ahead for stepping up efforts to develop democracy in Russia, then there will probably be a tad more democracy in this country,” he said.

“On the whole, it is very heartwarming and encouraging when the West, especially the U.S. president, supports Russia’s democracy,” said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group. “But as the lyrics of the Internationale [Communist anthem] had it, ‘No one will help us -- neither God, nor the czar, nor a hero, and everything has to be done with our own hands.’ ”

Alexei V. Kuznetsov of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.