Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Putin believes the mass media in Russia are as free as those are in other countries. Responding to the question if there were problems with freedom of speech in Russia and, if they were, where they were gravest - in Moscow or in the provinces, Mr. Putin during the news conference at the Kremlin cited a one-liner from a movie: "A true man should always try and a true lady should always resist." President Putin suggested the media act in line with the above principle: "The authorities have always tried to avoid criticism while the media have always tried to unearth everything they can to draw the authorities' attention to their errors." "We are neither better, nor worse than other countries," Mr. Putin said. He believes that the problem faced by the Russian state lies in the economy, rather than politics. Mr. Putin suggested the government make its work a bit less open for the media. "The government enabled you [reporters] to watch it working as much as you wish. I do not think the decision is all that sound. Working in the limelight is hard enough," he said. "When one faces a camera, one wants to look good, but this distracts one from his or her job. I hope the government will hold some of its weekly meetings in private. This is not because there are some secrets they would like to keep from the public, rather, this is to make the government even more outspoken in their decision-making, conversations and disputes," Mr. Putin added. Mr. Putin believes that information dissemination via the Internet should not be restricted. "I would not like freedom of disseminating information by means of the Internet curbed under the pretext of fighting crime," the president stated. According to Mr. Putin, the Internet is the most democratic mean of spreading information. "I would be very circumspect about restricting information dissemination on the Internet," the head of the Russian state added.