Putin tells G8 leaders he won't change constitution

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 17 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his fellow Group of Eight leaders he will not change the country's constitution to stay for a third term in office, G8 officials said today.

A G8 diplomat said Putin gave the assurance over a dinner on Sunday when the Kremlin leader himself initiated a ''frank but friendly'' discussion about democracy in Russia -- an area where some Western governments say he has been back-tracking.

''He clearly said, 'I'm not going to change the constitution.

I want Russia to be a constitutional state,''' the diplomat said.

Putin stepping down when his second term ends in 2008 is seen as a crucial test of his commitment to democracy.

G8 leaders have shied away from challenging Putin publicly about his democratic credentials, an approach that has pushed the issue into the background at the summit.

But the diplomat said it was extensively aired at the dinner, with Putin addressing concerns about state control of the media and a new law that tightens state control over funding for charities and pressure groups.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso confirmed the discussion took place and called it useful.

''It was a very open exchange of views,'' he said as he flew back to Brussels, adding the EU wanted a strong but democratic Russia. ''We have great respect for the contribution that Putin himself gave to a stable Russia. It is not in our interest to have an unstable, weak Russia.'' Putin said Russia was a special case because it was a country in transition and should not replicate other countries' systems, the diplomat said. He said some of the other leaders challenged this.

Officials said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Jacques Chirac, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair also weighed in to the debate.

PLEDGE TO PEERS Russia's constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms. Putin has previously ruled out running again, but his commitment on Sunday carried extra weight because it was made in front of his peers.

Putin, a former KGB spy who has vigorously defended his record on democracy, began the debate ''on his own initiative'', said the G8 diplomat.

''Primarily they were talking about ways of developing democracy, the importance of democratic values for solving global issues,'' said Sergei Prikhodko, a Putin aide.

But Prikhodko said: ''It was not necessarily about Russia ...

(Putin) also had questions to some of them as well as them having questions for each other.'' In public at the summit, Putin has parried questions about Russian democracy by pointing out other countries have failings too in this area.

''The core issue ... was whether or not one can accept or understand the specificity of the Russian case being a very large country with no experience of democracy,'' the G8 diplomat said. ''Some were more eager to have commitments from Mr Putin that the destination of this transition is a full democracy.'' Merkel pushed for Russia to have a strong, independent judiciary, he said, while US President George W. Bush urged Putin to repeat explanations to the group that had been made to him in private talks.

French President Jacques Chirac emphasised the complexity of running a country in transition and the difficulty of governing a large country, the diplomat said.

Reuters PKS GC0012