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RUSSIA will not tolerate outside interference in former Soviet republics or any attempts to destabilise countries on Russia’s borders, President Putin declared last night.

Still angry at the Orange Revolution that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader in December, Mr Putin denounced non-governmental organisations that were quietly backed by Western governments and fomented uprisings in Moscow’s former sphere of influence.

“Our foreign partners may be making a mistake,” he said during a 2˝-hour meeting in the Kremlin with Western academics and journalists, including The Times. “We are not against any changes in the former Soviet Union. We are afraid only that those changes will be chaotic. Otherwise there will be banana republics where he who shouts loudest wins.”

Mr Putin poured scorn on the new Ukrainian Government of President Yushchenko, saying that it was riven by corruption and had caused the collapse of an agreement for a new Russian gas pipeline to Western Europe. He had warned Europe of those consequences, he said, but “no one wanted to listen to us — and we have to be listened to”.

Mr Putin’s confident performance was clearly intended to soften his image in the West, where he is seen as increasingly authoritarian, and to rebut rumours that he was planning to stay on in office when his term expires in 2008.

“No, I am not going to run for president in 2008. No, we are not going to amend the constitution,” he insisted.

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