Russia ready to oppose any outside pressure - Medvedev

The events of the past year have demonstrated that Russian society and authorities can jointly withstand any political or economic pressure from abroad, Russian PM and leader of parliamentary majority party Dmitry Medvedev says.

“If it was not so we simply would not endure,” RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying at the Wednesday meeting with top officials of the United Russia party.

The PM also noted that in difficult modern times it was very important for the government to maintain regular and deep interaction with lawmakers.

“Our party really knows what air the country breathes, what the regions are doing what the social health is in various territories. This is precisely because we are a ruling party and responsible for the situation as a whole,” he said.

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The centrist conservative United Russia party currently holds 238 of 450 seats in the State Duma, securing any legislative moves except of changes in the constitution that require support of at least two-thirds of lawmakers. Dmitry Medvedev became the leader of United Russia in May 2012 after the previous leader, Vladimir Putin, became president of the Russian Federation.

State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said on Wednesday that the lower house planned to hold a major meeting with government officials on April 21. The main topic on the agenda will be social policy and Medvedev is expected to deliver a report on the matter, he said. Naryshkin also told reporters that such sessions were a constitutional norm.