MOSCOW, November 24 (Itar-Tass) — The 5th State Duma finished its work on Wednesday. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came to its final plenary session, to thank the legislators for effective work. Which he did, despite the snub from the KPRF and Just Russia factions, which refused to give a standing welcome to the premier. Experts summed up the four-year work with skeptical remarks.
"Vladimir Putin did turn up at the final session of the 5th State Duma," the Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. The premier was in benign mood: "I have not come for the sake of Party affairs, but only to thank you, as head of the government, for joint work in the past four years."
Putin voiced his gratitude about five times during his short speech, despite the fact that lawmakers from the Communist and Just Russia factions had not risen as he was entering the hall.
The premier noted it underlining that "his attitude was good to everybody - to those who had stood up in the hall today and those who had believed they should not stand up."
The prime minister sought to look like a future president even now, the president who tries not to divide political parties into allies and the opposition, the newspaper writes. So Putin stated that all the house factions serve Russia, that the parliament's work, even in the most difficult crisis years, was coordinated with the government. He never made specific remarks about United Russia. Furthermore, he was far more well-disposed to the Opposition. Remarking that although the ruling party was expecting the rivals to behave calmly and not to rock the boat, he said it was just a wish, because the Opposition existed so that the ruling party could have a firmer grip on the helm and could prove to the society the correctness of the chosen ways to develop the country.