Putin's protege and successor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, countered him by saying that the Soviet experience wasn't exactly a positive one and it can't be repeated, adding that Russia may learn from the U.S. experience.
The public exchange will likely fuel speculation about tensions between the two leaders as the nation approaches the 2012 presidential election.
Putin and Medvedev have denied any rift between them and said they would decide who would run for president in 2012 so that they don't compete against each other. Most observers expect that Putin, who remains Russia's most powerful figure, will reclaim the presidency.
Speaking at a Kremlin meeting focused on ways to assuage ethnic tensions that spilled into the open during riots outside the Kremlin on Dec. 11, Putin said that Russia has failed to learn from the Soviet experience and called for cultivating Russian patriotism.
Speaking immediately after him, Medvedev said the Soviet experience can't be reproduced.
"The Soviet Union was a state based on ideology, and, let's say it openly, quite a rigid one," he said. "Russia is different. ... We need to work out new approaches."
During the Dec. 11 riots, soccer fans and racists chanting "Russia for Russians" clashed with police and beat members of ethnic minority groups from the Caucasus region.
The violence in Moscow raised doubts about the government's ability to control a rising tide of xenophobia.
Putin suggested Monday that the authorities might restore harsh Soviet-era restrictions on movement into big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg. Such a move would target dark-complexioned people from the Caucasus, who flee their impoverished regions for big cities.
"We went for liberal rules of registration too early," Putin said.
Medvedev, however, warned against trying to isolate ethnic groups. "We can't block people from moving around the country, although we need to control that," he said. "We are a single country, and we must learn to live together."
This article appeared on page A - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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