Vladimir Putin promises to clamp down on immigrants

PRIME Minister Vladimir Putin has warned ethnic tensions could tear Russia apart, saying he would toughen migration rules on reassuming the presidency and keep a tight rein on Russia’s regions to prevent it following the Soviet Union into oblivion.

Mr Putin, in power since 2000 and favoured to win a six-year presidential term in March, described a Soviet-style vision of a country in which the rights of ethnic minorities would be respected but Russian language and culture would dominate.

“With the collapse of the country [the Soviet Union], we were on the edge – and in some regions over the edge – of civil war,” Mr Putin wrote in an article published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta yesterday, referring to two separatist wars in Chechnya.

“With great effort, with great sacrifice we were able to douse these fires. But that doesn’t mean that the problem is gone,” he wrote.