Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged Russians on Thursday not to participacte in the "destabilization" of the country, in his first public comments on last weekend's mass protests against alleged electoral fraud in favor of his United Russia party.
Speaking at his annual live Q&A, Putin said that while legal protests and dissent were necessary, it was "wrong" for people to "allow themselves to be sucked into schemes to destablize society."
Russia saw the largest anti-government rallies for some two decades on Saturday, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest suspected poll violations at the December 4 parliamentay polls.
Putin also hit out at the color revolutions that swept former Soviet republics in the 2000s, hinting at foreign involvement in the 2004-2005 unrest in Ukraine that led to the toppling of the country's pro-Russia authorities and the election of the Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko as president.
'This was a plan to destabilizse society. And I don't think it came about of its own," he said.
"Some of our opposition figures were in Ukraine," Putin added. "They worked as advisors to then President Yushchenko...and brought their experience back to Russia."
Putin alleged last week that the protests that erupted after the December 4 parlimentray polls had been encouraged by the United States, in particular by comments by Secreatray of State Hillary Clinton.
He also said on Thursday that he had mistaken the white ribbns worn by poll protesters for contraceptives.
"I thought it was an anti-AIDS campaign," he said.
Moscow city authorities gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for a new mass protest against alleged poll fraud on December 24.
