ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 29 (Reuters) - A Russian pop star made a rare attack on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday, denouncing corruption and telling him that security forces were "strangling" freedom in the country.
"The protesting electorate is growing and you know it. Many are unhappy with the current situation," outspoken singer Yuri Shevchuk said to Putin at a charity event for cancer children.
Russia ranks 146th out of 180 nations in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, has come under fire from global watchdogs for tight control of the media and has a quarter of the population living below the poverty line.
"Do you have a plan for serious, sincere, honest liberalisation and democratisation of our country, so that state organisations do not strangle, so that we stop being afraid of the policemen on the streets?" Shevchuk asked Putin.
Shevchuk, who rose to fame in the 1980s with the group DDT and has used songs to criticise the system, said he had been called by a Putin aide and asked not to pose sharp questions.
Putin, a former KGB spy who has a black belt in judo and public approval ratings around 80 percent, and rarely faces overt, public criticism, dismissed Shevchuk’s broadside as "provocation".
The singer, whose lines include "When the oil runs out our president will die", has complained that radio stations are unwilling to play his songs because of political pressure, although some say the cause could be changed public tastes.
Other entertainment stars at the event asked for Putin’s support for causes such as animal welfare and medicines.
After some heated debate and interruptions, Putin said he does not de facto oppose protest actions like that planned for Monday as part of the "31" protest series, which have in past months been dispersed by security forces.
"If I see that people have not simply come out to make a scene or promote themselves, but are saying concrete, relevant things, highlighting sore points, then what’s bad in that? We should thank you," he said.
"For myself and other government representatives, this does not hinder but actually helps."
Shevchuk — who opposed Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia with "Do not shoot" concerts — lifted his glass of water at the end of the event, proposing a toast to children:
"What kind of country will they live in — a dark, angry, corrupt country with one party and one hymn, or a light, democratic one, where everyone is equal before the law?" Putin replied that "the drink fits the toast".
