Kremlin dismisses West's election criticism

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin dismissed criticism on Monday of a parliamentary election in which President Vladimir Putin's party won a landslide victory, saying Russia shares democratic values with West.

Germany had earlier added to Western criticism of Sunday's poll, saying it was "neither a free nor democratic election".

"Certainly we would disagree with statements that Russia is undemocratic and its election was undemocratic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with foreign journalists.

"But an ideological split can appear only between two different systems. We are not different systems, we share the same values," he added. "I see no chance that this could widen a gap between us."

Putin, who made a series of anti-Western statements during the campaign, topped the United Russia party list, helping it to win a constitutional majority in the lower house of parliament, the Duma.

Putin warned during the campaign that he would not allow the West to poke "snotty noses" into Russia's affairs and accused Washington of encouraging the election arm of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) not to send observers to the polls.

Putin, who suspects the West of seeking to undermine Russia by backing revolts similar to those in ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia, said Russia would never follow that path.

"It's now clear to me that Russians will never allow their country to develop along the destructive path seen in some other countries of the former Soviet Union," he said.

ELECTION GAME

The parliamentary polls have been widely seen by Russia watchers as the first stage of a transition in which Putin will hand over powers to his successor, to be elected in a presidential vote on March 2 next year.

Putin, who says he wants to maintain influence after stepping down, has said the United Russia party could become his new power base.

"It's a good example and a good indication of Russia's internal political stability," Putin said. "It's the most important sign that the country is stronger not only economically, but socially and in its internal politics."

Opposition parties have complained the Kremlin has deliberately undermined their campaigns and accused the authorities of manipulating election results. Officials have denied such charges.

Peskov shrugged off complaints by liberal opposition parties such as Yabloko and SPS, all of which failed to win seats in parliament after gathering only a small share of Sunday's vote.

Peskov said the parties' leaders were keen to "victimize" themselves to win some popularity.