Moscow, 22 May: "Putin's plan" is a long-term strategy for the development of the country, which the One Russia party intends to implement, the chairman of the party, Boris Gryzlov, announced when speaking on Tuesday [22 May] at a joint meeting of the high council and the general council of One Russia.

"This is a long-term strategy for the development of the country, put forward by our national leader," Gryzlov said, noting that "Putin's plan" includes tasks on the implementation of the initiatives of the president of the Russian Federation, which were conveyed in his messages to the Federal Assembly. The party is viewing them as a single comprehensive programme, Gryzlov stressed.

"For One Russia this is 'Putin's plan' and, as a leading political party, as the president's party, we are obliged to implement this plan in full," Gryzlov said.

The leader of One Russia explained what the party specifically understands under the term of "Putin's plan".

"I would single out five key sections of this plan," Gryzlov said.

"First: Russia is a unique and great civilization and the attitude towards the tasks of developing our country and the understanding of the fullness of responsibility for its future should correspond to this," he announced.

Gryzlov noted that that this concerned the need to protect and preserve the shared cultural space, the riches of the Russian language and the traditions of tolerance and spirituality for future generations.

The second section of the plan, as the leader of One Russia put it, is to build a competitive economy. "We are not satisfied with the thesis that the place of Russia in the world could be limited to the stage of production and transportation of raw materials. The future of our country is linked to taking the path development based on innovation," Gryzlov stressed.

"Thirdly - this is a new quality of life for the citizens of the country, which requires the continuation of priority national projects, further substantial increase of wages and the fine-tuning of the pension reform," the One Russia leader said.

He said the fourth section was on the establishment of the institutions of civil society and the fifth was "further development of Russia as a sovereign state".

"We are calling for a multipolar world in which our country has its worthy place and therefore it would be able to ensure security of its territory and of its citizens and protect them against any threats," Gryzlov said.

The joint meeting of the high council and of the general council of One Russia was attended by 37 of the 44 members of the high council and 141 of the 153 members of the general council.

In addition to the leadership of the party, the meeting is also being attended by a member of the high council of the party and the head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Sobyanin, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov, representatives of the Presidential Administration and of the Russian government, heads of constituent parts of the Russian Federation and secretaries of the regional political councils of the party.

[Passage omitted: Gryzlov thanked heads of regions for good local election results.]

[ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1553 gmt 22 May 07 noted that "Putin's plan" would serve as One Russia programme for 2007 parliamentary elections and 2008 presidential elections.

The agency quoted Gryzlov as saying that that one of the points of "Putin's plan" was the further strengthening of the role of political parties, for which, thanks to the efforts of One Russia, all preconditions, including legislative ones, have already been created. Gryzlov said that One Russia would not allow "the support for the development of other parties at the expense of One Russia, at our expense". When talking to journalists, Gryzlov indicated that Putin was aware of the party's plans. "Vladimir Putin met the One Russia faction on more than one occasion and all these steps were discussed," Gryzlov was quoted as saying.

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1441 gmt 22 May 07 reported that, according to Gryzlov, Putin will remain a national leader of Russia also after 2008, while for this it is not necessary for him to hold any specific post.

When answering questions from journalists, who asked how Putin intended to retain his leadership when leaving the post of president, Gryzlov explained: "I think that it is not necessary to hold a concrete post in order to be a leader." Gryzlov did not comment on what the president may do after leaving office but said he was convinced that "Vladimir Putin will have a concrete post" of some kind.

RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 1357 gmt 22 May 07 quoted Gryzlov as saying that he was convinced that extremist protest actions in Russia are being initiated from abroad: "I am convinced of this." "The verbs 'to think' or 'to suppose' do not quite precisely describe my understanding that this is so and I relay on real facts," he added.]