MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. Russia’s opposition parties have failed to become the country’s political elite, said prominent Russian academician and ex-Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov.

“As far as the ‘elites’ are concerned, it is not very clear whom you have in mind. If it is the political opposition as represented by analysts, political scientists and the related non-professionals that you have in mind, I do not think that this definition applies to them,” Primakov said in an interview with TASS.

Primakov, a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Valdai Forum, which the Western political scientists and mass media were quick to interpret as aggressive enhanced his positions not just inside Russia but also abroad.

“Those who keep an open mind can easily see that an overwhelming majority of the Russian population supports the head of state and reject threats addressed to Putin, whose policy is rightly seen as serving Russia’s interests and at the same time keeping the door open to cooperation with all countries, including the United States and the European Union, for neutralizing real threats and challenges to the world community. I am certain that Putin’s statement at the Valdai Forum gave him a still firmer foothold on the domestic scene and elsewhere,” Primakov said.

The full version of Primakov's interview