MOSCOW, Feb 3 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose popularity has slid to a record low in recent weeks, lashed out at his government Thursday, saying tough new social reforms had been improperly implemented, resulting in nationwide street protests.
Putin told regional governors that they were chiefly responsibile for the fair implementation of a new system that is to replace social benefits like free public transport and medicines for the needy with cash payments -- which the public thinks are woefully inadequate.
"Both federal and regional authorities have failed to properly enforce the legal norms that have been passed," Putin said.
The welfare system change -- the most radical since the Soviet Union's collapse -- has prompted a month of protests, led by the elderly, in which major streets and highways have been blocked across Russia's 11 time zones.
The first wave of spontaneous protests prompted the Russian government last week to increase the minimum monthly pension from 660 rubles (about 24 dollars) to 900 rubles.
The government also announced a general raise in other benefits that had been cut by two-thirds at the start of the year in a bid to restructure the cumbersome Soviet-era social welfare system.
Police salaries were raised 50 percent and the armed forces had a 20 percent raise as Putin's government backtracked from the initial bold proposal, mainly to ensure that the armed forces were on its side.
Against this backdrop, the Public Opinion Foundation released a poll this week showing public confidence in Putin, who has been in power for five years, slipping to 42 percent -- the lowest point since the Kursk nuclear submarine tragedy that prompted a belated Kremlin response in August 2000.
The poll showed that 21 percent of the 1,500 respondents had no trust in the Russian leader.
"A part of the responsibility for these reforms is falling on the president despite his attempt to blame others in the government," said the foundation's chief analyst Grigory Kertman.
"He is no longer the Teflon president or the good tsar who blames his coterie for mistakes," Kertman told AFP. "The disillusion with Putin is building and is being borne out by our polls. He is less and less 'one of us' for Russians."
With social benefits split between those issued by the state and those by local authorities, Moscow is trying to pin more of the blame for recent cash shortfalls on the latter.
Putin's popularity is no longer a burning issue for the Kremlin because he is serving out his second and final term.
But a low rating will hurt his chances of finding a successor in 2008 who would continue his drive to strengthen centralized control -- over both politics and the economy -- and help pull the country out of its post-Soviet economic and social struggles.
Low polls would also hurt Putin's chances of implementing other reforms that economists say are necessary for stable growth without having to rely solely on Russia's increasingly profitable oil and natural gas exports.
Putin's weakening could lead to infighting in the government such as that witnessed under Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s -- especially as the Kremlin is already split between nationalist hawks and more liberal economic reformers whose power has waned in recent months.
Accepting that some of his recent reforms were drafted too quickly, Putin urged the government Thursday to consult with the public as it implements the complicated program.
"Since any mistakes here would be extremely sensitive to the people, it is necessary to provide information about them and explain their meaning," Putin said of the reforms.
"You should coordinate regional interests and the strategy of the nation's development," Putin told the governors.

02/03/2005 17:38 GMT - AFP