Russia is a country ruled by a privileged class of "dukes", whose press freedom amounts to "one-and-a-half newspapers" and where demonstrations are broken up by "repressive" security services.

Not the tirade of an angry liberal blogger but a statement made by one of Russia's best known rock musicians in a face-to-face encounter with the Russian number one, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The heated exchange at the weekend between singer Yury Shevchuk and Putin shattered Russia's often monotone public discourse and left observers intrigued as to why it was allowed to take place and then heavily publicised.

Not only did Shevchuk boldly attack the state that has resulted from Putin's rule as president and then prime minister over the last decade but the Russian strongman replied with equally startling comments of his own.

Rather than keeping the whole affair under wraps, state television broadcasted snippets of the meeting in Saint Petersburg. The government has now posted the entire transcript and video recording on its website.

"The discussion between Yury Shevchuk and Vladimir Putin was the sharpest and most open of all his time in power," said the mass-circulation daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.

Shevchuk, lead singer of the popular rock band DDT, openly asked Putin if he really wanted to create a regime where non-governmental organisations are not "strangled and people stop being afraid of policemen on the street".

He described Russia as being ruled by "dukes and princes with sirens on their cars". Russian state television just shows "marches and anthems" while miners are sent to work like "to the slaughter", he said.

But Putin's reply was also surprising for a man whom activists accuse of clamping down on civil society.

"Above all, I want to say that without a normal democratic development this country will have no future," he said. "This is an obvious fact. A person can only develop himself in a free society."

Putin admitted problems of abuses in the security forces, saying "we have such a culture in our country -- as soon as anyone gets a rank and a truncheon he waves it about and tried to earn money with it".

Financial daily Vedomosti said Putin showed a "sceptical and even pessimistic attitude to his people" in an uncomfortable discussion that forced him to "publicly defend Russia's closed society".

The exchange at times became heated, with Putin raising his voice and telling Shevchuk not to turn the discussion into a "bazaar".

But political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin suggested the encounter was far from accidental and aimed to spruce up Putin's image after his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has made efforts to present himself as a liberal reformer.

Speculation remains strong that Putin is mulling a return to the Kremlin in 2012 polls and is keen to match Medvedev's vows of modernization in Russia.

"By inviting Shevchuk, Putin knew what was going to be said and of course he had his answers ready," Oreshkin told AFP.

"Putin feels he is losing popularity among the intelligentsia. Looking ahead to 2012 he wants to adapt his image."

Saint Petersburg-based Shevchuk, who founded his band in the 1980s under the Soviet Union, has long been known as a fervent opponent of the Kremlin.

Speaking to the Echo of Moscow radio Monday, the musician laughed off the interviewer's assertion that most people "would have quaked in their boots" in such a situation.

"For some people, Putin is God. For some, he is the devil. For me, he is a high ranking official -- and that's it," said Shevchuk.

"It was very pleasant for me to hear the premier say that Russia has no future without civil society and democracy."

The video of the encounter has been posted on the government website:

http://www.premier.gov.ru/visits/ru/10771/events/10795/video.html

The official English-language transcript has also been published on:

http://www.premier.gov.ru/eng/visits/ru/10771/events/10795/

- AFP