Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied he runs an authoritarian system, saying he has had plenty of chances to change the constitution but never has.
In his first major news conference of his third term as president, he said: "I cannot call this system authoritarian, I cannot agree with this.
"If I considered a totalitarian or authoritarian system preferable, I would simply have changed the constitution, it was easy enough to do, it doesn't even require any sort of national vote," Mr Putin said.
Critics, including in the United States and Europe, have accused him of trying to smother dissent by pushing through laws that they say can be used to stifle opponents.
During the broadcast, Mr Putin also backed tough legislation pending that would make it illegal for Americans to adopt Russian children in retaliation for a US human rights law.
The highly-controversial draft legislation would end around 1,000 adoptions a year and comes as a reminder of the rapid deterioration in Russia-US relations since Mr Putin's election in March.
The Kremlin The bill also includes a clause that bans any Russian non-government organisations involved in politics that receives funding from the US.
The State Duma lower house of parliament is due to vote on the bill in its final reading on Friday, before it passes to the upper chamber and then for the president's signature.
Sitting behind a large desk in front of 1,200 journalists in a Moscow conference centre, Mr Putin remained calm, rarely smiled and was still going after three hours.
Covering a wide range of topics, the president went on to say he would offer French movie star Gerard Depardieu a Russian passport to resolve his tax row, calling him a friend.
"If Gerard really wants to have a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we can consider this issue resolved positively," he said.
The website of Le Monde newspaper quoted Depardieu on Tuesday as telling friends that "Putin has already sent me a passport".
Actor Gerard Depardieu Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the report that "most likely he was joking".
Mr Putin also dismissed talk that he is suffering from health problems, saying such speculation served the interests of his political opponents.
"This is only beneficial for political opponents who are trying to question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the authorities," he told the news conference.
The president was seen limping at a September Asia-Pacific summit and Russian government sources said he was suffering from back trouble.
Meanwhile, a Russian prosecutor has requested that oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's jail sentence for multibillion-pound theft and money laundering be reduced by almost two years.
Mr Khodorkovsky is serving 13 years in a prison near the Arctic circle after a Russian court convicted him in 2010 in a case that Kremlin critics have described as politically motivated.
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