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United Russia should develop towards healthy conservatism-Putin

In the view of Putin, the party should be based on all the positive things that have been achieved in the preceding period of development

MOSCOW, April 24 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s Prime Minister, President-elect Vladimir Putin believes that the United Russia party should evolve towards conservatism.

“United Russia should evolve towards a healthy, solid conservatism,” he said on Tuesday at a meeting with the leadership of the party. “It, as it was conceived, should be a centrist, conservative force in the country.”

In the view of Putin, the party should be based on all the positive things that have been achieved in the preceding period of development, but at the same time look towards the future. “If we can establish this inner mechanism, the intraparty democracy and build the work with the future government members, together we will achieve the goals that we set for ourselves,” the prime minister said.

At the same time he drew attention to the need not to slide into populism. “For the ruling force it is very difficult, it is difficult to avoid the temptation to start to promise everything and generously give away everything, even when it is conspicuous,” the RF government head said.

Earlier on Tuesday, at a meeting with the United Russia party leadership Putin said that after the inauguration on May 7 he intends to leave the post of its chairman which he has held since the spring of 2008. He also proposed to hold in the second half of May the United Russia Congress at which to elect the party’s new chairman. He proposed to elect to this post Dmitry Medvedev.

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