Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday called for a renewal of Russian democracy, in his latest manifesto before presidential polls where he will seek to extend his 12 year domination of the country

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday called for a renewal of Russian democracy, in his latest manifesto before presidential polls where he will seek to extend his 12 year domination of the country.
  
Putin said that Russia's political system must adjust to the needs of a growing civil society. "Our civil society has become incomparably more mature, active and responsible. We need to update the mechanism of our democracy. They must fit in growing public activity," he wrote in an article published on his campaign website and in the business broadsheet Kommersant.
  
"The majority of people need to feel they are citizens and be ready to regularly pay attention and spend time and effort taking part in government," he said. "Democracy in a big country is made up of the democracies of small areas. Local government is a school of responsibility for citizens," he wrote, calling for municipal authorities to have greater autonomy from the Kremlin.
  
After the opposition movement has turned to the Internet to raise support and coordinate protest, Putin called for the parliament to be obliged to discuss any public petition that managed to gather 100,000 signatures online.
  
In the piece -- his fourth campaign article -- Putin stressed that direct elections of regional governors would be reintroduced. But at the same time in more typical strongman rhetoric, he said Russia must avoid "the temptation to simplify politics, to create a fictitious democracy" and insisted it needed a "strong, effective and respected federal centre."