The chief of the administration of President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, urged the country's political parties to develop coherent platforms and policies to provide a healthy alternative, while warning against internecine infighting in the government.

"If we do not manage to consolidate the elite, Russia could cease to exist as a unified state," he warned in an interview published Monday in Expert magazine.

The recent ouster of pro-Russian regimes following massive street protests in three ex-Soviet nations of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan has sparked consternation and concern among Russian officials.

"We have managed to strengthen the state's unity and to ensure enough stability for economic growth over recent years. But if we relax now and let ourselves be carried whichever way the waves go, the results would be disastrous," Medvedev said.

While Putin's approval ratings have remained high, there has been growing popular discontent with his handling of the war in Chechnya and social reforms.

"There are still serious problems that could cause public upheaval and lead to social cataclysms," when Russia itself goes to the polls in 2008 to choose a new president, Medvedev admitted.

"The main risk is destabilisation of public life due to terrorism or primitive economic mistakes and accompanied by wide-scale infighting among the elite," he pointed out.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.