MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia rejected US criticism of moves to strengthen Kremlin power, saying they were reforms of a domestic nature that were perfectly constitutional.
"Reforms, both administrative and legislative, these are processes which are an internal matter for Russia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to the Kazakh capital Astana.
"We know that the United States, after the September 11 terror acts, pushed through fairly harsh measures," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"Our process is our domestic concern and it is being carried out in line with the Russian constitution," he added.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced a major overhaul of Russian administration that would end the direct election of regional governors, replacing them with Kremlin appointees.
He also said that deputies to the lower house of parliament would be elected only on party-lists, ending the current system where independent candidates can contest half of the State Duma seats in local constituencies.
The United States on Tuesday joined the European Union in raising concern about the new political measures.
"It is a step back from the road we hoped Russia will take to the direction of bigger transparency and democracy," US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Riga after a meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Indulis Emsis.
Putin presented the reforms as vital for a national drive to defeat terrorism in the aftermath of the bloody school siege this month in which nearly 340 people, half of them children, were killed.
His critics say he is exploiting the bloodshed to roll back the democratic gains of post-Soviet Russia.