Rice meets opposition heavyweights in Moscow

By Sue Pleming

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Seeking ways to open Russia's Kremlin-dominated political system, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met civil society leaders and Kremlin opponents on Tuesday.

"I am very much looking forward to your thoughts about the political situation here... and what the United States can do to make this a more open and participatory political system", Rice told participants before the breakfast meeting.

Guests included leaders of Russia's shrunken and embattled political opposition, who have lost representation in parliament and score only a few percentage points in opinion polls. Defense Secretary Robert Gates also attended the breakfast.

Rice has repeatedly said there is too much power concentrated in the Kremlin and that outgoing President Vladimir Putin's government has rolled back democratic freedoms.

Putin is by far Russia's most popular politician, regularly scoring over 70 percent in opinion polls, though pollsters say skewed media coverage on state-run television and a lack of serious opponents flatter his ratings.

Asked whether she expected Russia to be angered by her meetings with civil society leaders and NGOs, Rice said: "I think it is expected."

Among those invited to the U.S. embassy residence for the meeting were Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the social democratic Yabloko party, and Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent who lost his seat in the State Duma (parliament) last year.

However, the most ardent Putin critics whose presence could irk the Kremlin -- former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and ex-world chess champion Garry Kasparov -- were not present.

On each visit to Moscow, Rice has made a point of seeing Russian human rights activists.

Rice is hoping that president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, whom she saw on Monday along with Gates, will take a new approach to human rights. Gates and Rice are in Moscow for meetings with their Russian counterparts to discuss a wide range of tricky bilateral issues, including the U.S. missile defense system.

"With each change the possibilities are there for change," she told reporters traveling with her.

Medvedev won a landslide victory in an election on March 2 which was criticized by the West as not fully democratic.

"I hope to see some greater transition in Russia on human rights and on political freedoms," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

"I have said before that I do hope that one day we will be looking at Russian elections that will have more contests," she said, in a snipe at the latest parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia.

The State Department's human rights report released last week took aim at Russia's record, citing numerous government and other abuses throughout 2007, including harassment of the media and reported killings and torture by the security forces.