Russia must give its people more political power but should not hastily follow foreign recipes for democracy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in an article published on Monday, a month before a presidential election he is expected to win.

Facing the biggest opposition protests of his 12-year rule as he prepares to return to the Kremlin, Putin acknowledged in a front-page article in the daily Kommersant that many Russians want a stronger voice.

But he announced no new electoral reform initiatives, signaling he intends to move cautiously in a six-year term and keep a firm grip on the political system he has dominated since he was first elected president in 2000.

"Our society today is completely different than it was at the start of the 2000s. Many people are becoming wealthier, better educated and more demanding," Putin wrote, taking credit for economic improvements since he came to power.

"Our civil society has become incomparably more mature, active and responsible," the former KGB spy wrote. "We need to renew the mechanisms of our democracy - they need to catch up to growing public activity."

However, he added: "Real democracy is not created in an instant and cannot be copied from an external model."