An irritated-looking Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fielded sensitive questions about speech freedoms and Gazprom's controversial plans to raise a skyscraper during an unusual weekend meeting with St. Petersburg intelligentsia that analysts said resembled campaigning for the 2012 presidency.
Rock star Yury Shevchuk, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, plied Putin with questions that are rarely asked in public, including restrictions on press freedom and the right for public assembly, during a charity event for children with cancer in St. Petersburg.
"I received a call the day before yesterday from your assistant, I guess — don't remember his name — who asked me not to pose sharp questions," Shevchuk told Putin, according to a transcript published on the prime minister's web site.
Putin seemed to not recognize Shevchuk, 53, even though he is a nationally known singer and songwriter with the rock band DDT, founded in 1980, and often compared to the iconic Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky.
"What's your name, sorry?" Putin asked.
"Yura Shevchuk, a musician," the singer said.
Putin dismissed the phone call as a "provocation" that could not have been made by anyone on his staff.
Undeterred, Shevchuk pressed ahead with his questions, mentioning that Moscow and St. Petersburg authorities have repeatedly banned attempts by human rights activists and the political opposition to stage rallies in support of free assembly. Police, sometimes brutally, have broken up the protests, held on the 31st of every month that has 31 days in recognition of Article 31 of the Constitution that guarantees free assembly.
"The protesting electorate is growing, and you know it. Many are unhappy with the current situation," Shevchuk said.
"Do you have a plan for the serious, sincere and honest liberalization and democratization of our country so state organizations do not strangle us and so we stop being afraid of the police on the streets?" he said.
Putin voiced support for public protests, saying they "don't hinder but, on the contrary, help" the government. ?
"If I see that people … are pointing to crucial issues that the authorities should pay attention to, what can be wrong with that? One should say, 'thank you,'" Putin said, adding that demonstrations should not hinder other people.
When Shevchuk suggested that the prime minister had the political weight to intervene in banned protests, Putin ridiculed the statement, saying his weight was 76 kilograms.
Still, Putin's remarks stirred some hopes Sunday that the police might respond more peacefully to unsanctioned rallies planned for Monday, May 31.
"But this could also be the result of some sort of provocation and improper action by pro-Kremlin groups," said Ilya Yashin, a member of the Solidarity opposition movement that has participated in the protests.
"We don't need an order from Putin," he added. "We just want the law to be observed."
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the prime minister's comments should not be interpreted as a license to protest.
"Putin has not allowed anything because he cannot grant authorizations. This is an issue for local authorities," he said on Ekho Moskvy radio. "Putin said that everything should be within the framework of the law."
Worried about public unrest amid the economic recession, the authorities have moved quickly to stamp out protests of all kinds. President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened to fire governors unable to maintain calm in their regions after a highway blockade over wage arrears in the Leningrad region last year forced Putin to personally intervene, and the State Duma has toughened penalties from some kinds of protests.
Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Saturday's meeting bore the hallmarks of election-time campaigning and said it closely echoed Medvedev's meeting earlier this month with his human rights council for an unusually frank discussion about the country's much-assailed human rights record.
"It looks like Putin and his team are carefully tracking all of Medvedev's signals," Petrov said.
He said, however, that the questions posed to Putin did not appear to be as scripted as in the past.
"They didn't look like staged questions. Putin's irritation was evident, but he didn't really divulge his personal position," Petrov said.
Shevchuk on Saturday also complained about media censorship. Radio stations have refused to play a song titled, "When the Oil Runs Dry" from his 2008 album "L’Echoppe" with the lyrics: "When the oil runs dry, our president will die."
Oleg Basilashvili, a 75-year-old actor known for his roles in movies directed by Eldar Ryazanov, backed up Shevchuk's criticism and denounced the plan by Gazprom to construct a skyscraper in St. Petersburg despite opposition from UNESCO and many other architectural experts.
"It's time to wind up with those skyscrapers," Basilashvili said, dubbing the "unlawful" project as a "gazoscraper."
Basilashvili was an outspoken political figure in the 1990s and supporter of Putin's mentor, St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.
Putin replied that cities like Paris and London also have buildings that failed to fit in with their traditional architectural styles. But he conceded that the St. Petersburg authorities should have reached an agreement with residents before approving the skyscraper.
Medvedev called for the height of the tower to be reconsidered a week earlier.
Among the other guests at Saturday's event, the "Little Prince" charity concert for children with cancer, were actors Chulpan Khamatova, Alisa Freindlich and Sergei Garmash.
At the end of the event, Shevchuk lifted his glass of water to propose a toast to the children. "What kind of country will they live in — a dark, angry, corrupt country with one party and one anthem … or a light, democratic one where everyone is equal before the law?" he said.
Putin said, "The beverage fits the toast," to which Shevchuk responded that children would be better off staying sober.