MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will not be pushed along the road towards a dictatorship and autonomous existence, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.
"There are conversations all the time that finally they will show their real face, the regime will drop the masks, and finally the regime that is the most typical of Russia - authoritarian regime evolving in dictatorship - will come to reign the country," Medvedev told a meeting with public figures in the Kremlin on Friday.
"We are in fact being pushed onto the development track which is not based on sound, normal and civilized cooperation with other countries, but rests on autonomous development behind thick walls and an 'iron curtain," the president said.
"I would like to stress once again: this is not our track. There is no use in returning back to the past. We have made our choice," Medvedev said.
The development priorities of the Russian public will remain focused, he said. "No new external conditions, or any external pressure, will change our strategic line to build a free, progressive and democratic state and public," Medvedev said.
"All tasks related to economic development, the expansion of business, creative and personal freedom will be solved immediately, without any reference to whether the country is in a particular situation surrounded by enemies," the president said.
"This will not happen! We made our choice a long time ago not in order to make some countries like us. This is the pained choice of our people," he added.
Medvedev also stressed that even in the changing world conditions, Russia is ready to continue dialogue with all partners without exception.
"We will strive to ensure that the shape of a new world order complies with international law in fact not in word. We should not fail to remember about the basics of the international law, and we should implement them in relations with all civilized countries. Naturally, we should do this given the present day realities and the lessons of the Caucasian crisis," Medvedev said.