Quoting the Polish Gazeta.pl portal:

In his [Putin’s] opinion, opposition polititians should create some kind of a common platform, so that “it would be possible to understand what people want”. Putin also noted that in the oposition ranks there’s the democratic party Jabloko, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, along with liberal and nationalist organizations. “It seems necessary to talk with everyone – regarding their grievances and problems. We’ll have to think this through.” – said the Prime Minister.

In short, Putin tries to send a message along the lines of:

• yes, I am a Good Uncle and I want to help;
• but you are so undecided and you have so many different, not compatible postulates;
• please decide and choose something, we’ll talk.

Obviously, this is a response to lasting protests after apparently rigged elections in Russia. And it’s a very cunning – and at the same time very, very perfidious method of handling the situation. It builds image of Putin being a caring Head of the Nation that Wants to Help, at the same time belittling the opposition as silly, quarrelling children, without a leader and not even knowing what they want – wishing for some toys but unable to decide on which exactly.

And that is extremely dangerous. I hope neither Russians nor the World will fall for that.

As the reality is that Putin is not a “good uncle” – he’s an authoritarian ruler. Opposition is not “quarrelling, leaderless” – they’re just diverse, as they should in a democracy. And the solution is not a “dialogue with the opposition”. The solution is to run proper, legitimate, not fraudulent elections, so that The People can choose for themselves.

You know, like in a democracy.