The speaker of the upper house of the Russian...

"Do members of the United Russia think that opposition and criticism is dishonest?" Mironov said. "In a civilized society this is the duty and goal of the opposition," he told journalists.

Mironov, the head of a small Just Russia party also loyal to the Kremlin, fueled the wrath of the United Russia party on Monday when he said in a television interview he did not fully share Putin"s policy.

"Our party supports everything related to the foreign and some internal policies; however, we absolutely disagree with the budget plan introduced by Vladimir Putin," Mironov said. "We disagree with anti-crisis measures which Vladimir Putin introduced, this is why we proposed our anti-crisis plan."

Senior members of the United Russia party, which holds the parliamentary majority and is led by Putin, said they were planning to demand Mironov"s resignation.

"Considering that he [Mironov] represents St. Petersburg"s legislative assembly, where we [the United Russia] have

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