Russia's Putin says US encoraged election protests

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of encouraging protests over the country's parliamentary election and said hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funds were used to influence the vote.

In his first public remarks about daily demonstrations by protesters alleging Sunday's vote was fraudulent and unfair, Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "gave a signal" to Kremlin opponents. "She set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work," Putin said. (Reuters)