Break in Protocol for a Rock Star With Putin (Published 2010)

MOSCOW — The event seemed mundane enough: a televised meeting between Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, and the country’s cultural elite to promote a charity concert for children with cancer.

But then a guest, Yuri Shevchuk, a rock star and Kremlin critic, broke protocol.

“I received a call the day before yesterday, from your assistant, probably — I don’t remember his name — who asked me not to ask sharp questions,” Mr. Shevchuk said.

What followed was an unusually feisty debate between Mr. Putin and Mr. Shevchuk over free speech, the right to protest, police abuse and government corruption, among other issues. And it was broadcast for all to see on government-controlled television.

The exchange on Saturday sent pundits and bloggers racing to parse its significance: was it a sign of growing political openness or empty talk; an unscripted debate or a crafty public relations stunt?

“The protesting electorate is growing in number, and you know it,” Mr. Shevchuk told Mr. Putin. “Are you honest when you say you want real liberalization and democratization for a real country, where public organizations are not suffocated and where people don’t feel scared of a policeman on the street?”

The comments seemed to irritate Mr. Putin, who is typically on the other end of such questioning. As Mr. Shevchuk spoke, Mr. Putin appeared to swish his tea around in his mouth, as if cleansing it of a bad taste.

Mr. Putin denied that one of his aides could have warned Mr. Shevchuk against asking controversial questions, suggesting that someone else could have made the phone call as a “provocation.”

Though Mr. Putin has met with critics in the past, rarely has he faced such open confrontation. While he and other guests conversed cordially on subjects like animal rights and health care, he and Mr. Shevchuk often spoke over and around one another, at times cutting each other off midsentence.

“I didn’t interrupt you when you were talking,” Mr. Putin said at one point. “Don’t turn the discussion into a noisy argument!”

At times, Mr. Putin appeared to enjoy the exchange. When Mr. Shevchuk suggested that he use his political weight to solve more problems, the prime minister responded tartly, “I weigh 76 kilograms.”

And scripted or not, officials did not shy away from publicizing the event. Video that included the debate was published on Mr. Putin’s Web site along with transcripts in Russian and English.

After over a decade in power, first as prime minister, then president, now prime minister again, Mr. Putin is Russia’s pre-eminent leader. He remains enormously popular, and his word is rarely challenged, at least not publicly.

Mr. Shevchuk, the front man of the rock group DDT, rose to fame in the perestroika era and like a Russian Bruce Springsteen, has become famous for his promotion of liberal causes and criticism of the government under Mr. Putin.

At the event on Saturday, when he accused the police of serving “their bosses and their pockets, not the people,” Mr. Putin defended the police but acknowledged that there were problems. “It’s our culture: when a guy gets a license or some stick in his hands, he immediately begins to swing it and try to make money using it,” he said.

In response to a challenge by Mr. Shevchuk to allow antigovernment protests scheduled for Monday, Mr. Putin said he did not oppose protests as long as demonstrators adhered to the law.

“People’s right to express their disapproval of the government should be protected,” Mr. Putin said. “But participants in such demonstrations should not disturb those who do not want to demonstrate, and just want to get home in time and be with their families.”

The latter concern appeared to win out on Monday, when columns of police officers cracked down on demonstrations in several cities against violations of Russia’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of assembly. The police and protesters said more than 100 people were detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg.