Russian President Vladimir Putin, a longtime KGB officer, praised the nation's security services and said their ranks were growing stronger, but also stressed that they must obey the law and protect people's rights.
The words, mixed with warm sentiments about Russian security organs and their Soviet predecessors, sounded like a warning to the powerful forces to stay in line and follow guidelines laid out by Putin, who appears set to retain power as prime minister after stepping down next year.
Addressing officers from the main offshoots of the Soviet KGB at an elaborate Kremlin gathering on a holiday honoring the profession, Putin said on Thursday one of their main tasks is "the systemic and reliable protection of the rights and lawful interests of citizens."
"People must live and work in peace and be confident of the realization of their plans, of the protection of their property, their businesses," Putin said in footage shown on state-run television. "This is one of the key conditions of the continued rise of our economy and the construction of a democratic, law-based state."
Putin, who served with the KGB in East Germany in the Soviet era and briefly headed its main domestic successor agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), during his ascent to the presidency, has placed many colleagues from intelligence and security in influential positions.
His liberal critics say he is turning Russia into a Soviet-style police state, and many Russians say they have experienced or fear abuse at the hands of the police and security personnel. Government critics say corruption in the FSB and other agencies stifles business activity and stunts the economy.
With the presidential election coming up on March 2, security agencies are also seen as players in a power struggle. Putin cannot run for a third straight term but has tapped protege Dmitry Medvedev as his favored successor and accepted Medvedev's offer to be his prime minister in the almost certain event of his election.
At least in part, his remarks appeared aimed to tell the security agencies they must stay within the bounds of their authority, avoid stirring up public anger or turmoil and carry out the policies he has set in eight years as president.
"All the activities of the security organs must be based strictly on the norms and letter of the law," he said.
They "must give their assistance so that everything that has been planned and supported by our people, all the plans that have been formed for the future, are realized in full and to the end," he said.
Putin, who critics say glosses over the crimes Soviet state against its citizens and the KGB's role in oppression, said the professional holiday -- not a day off for Russians -- was a time "to remember the heroic pages in the history of the country's special services," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
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