Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the opposition was hoping for a "coup", during a marathon press conference that marked his first major public appearance since announcing he would seek a new six-year term in March 2018 elections.
At the annual event, which this year lasted almost four hours and saw more than 1,600 journalists accredited, Putin also touched on Olympic doping, North Korea and the achievements of US leader Donald Trump.
Putin warned against unrest in response to a question from Ksenia Sobchak, a former socialite and liberal journalist who announced in October she would run in next year's elections, about whether authorities were afraid of opposition.
"Do you want us to have coup attempts here? We've already been through all that. You want to go back to that? I am sure that the overwhelming majority of Russian citizens do not want this and will not stand for it," he told Sobchak.
"We don't want a second edition of today's Ukraine for Russia, do we?" asked Putin, referring to the pro-Western 2014 uprisings that culminated in the removal of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Sobchak mentioned Alexei Navalny by name, the opposition leader who has spent the last year gathering support for a Kremlin bid but is barred from running because of a criminal conviction that he says is politically motivated.
Many suspect Sobchak, whose father was Putin's political mentor and who is rumoured to be the president's goddaughter, is standing as a Kremlin "spoiler" candidate to split the opposition and boost interest in the polls. The press conference kicked off with a question from a Moscow radio station on why Putin was seeking re-election.
"To improve quality of life for Russians," said Putin, who has been in power since 1999. He could become the country's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin if he wins a fourth term.
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