By ALAN CULLISON
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev revived a long-dormant human-rights council and invited a handful of Kremlin critics to join, the latest in a series of small gestures toward political openness in recent weeks.
Mr. Medvedev's moves have stirred some hopes for possible relaxation of Kremlin control over society. But his mixed messages suggest a quick thaw is unlikely, and senior politicians say the Kremlin is only sharpening tools for political control in a time when economic troubles are fueling social tension.
Mr. Medvedev said he was reviving the human-rights council, founded five years ago to improve ties between government and civil society, because its advice would «help to unite people with different positions.» He has often paid lip service to the idea of an open political system since he became president last year, but so far he has shown little follow-through.
The president has hewed to the policies of Vladimir Putin, whom he named prime minister. Domestic critics continue to be harassed and marginalized. Police have cracked down on antigovernment demonstrations, which have spread in recent months. Violence against opposition activists also is on the rise, human-rights groups say.
Mr. Medvedev has agreed to discuss revising Russia's laws restricting nongovernment organizations, or NGOs, at the council's first meeting this spring, according to Russian media reports.
That would mark a turnaround for Mr. Medvedev, who echoed Mr. Putin last year in suggesting that foreign-financed NGOs were spying on Russia. However, Mr. Medvedev's position could be softening. The Kremlin recently withdrew a treason bill from parliament that had been submitted by Mr. Putin's cabinet; the bill was denounced by human-rights advocates as so vaguely worded that it could have defined any government critic or worker for a foreign organization as a spy.
Mr. Medvedev also held a surprise meeting last month with the editor of Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper and frequent government critic, that lost a reporter last month in an apparent contract killing.
Mr. Medvedev's deportment at the meeting suggested he was unapologetic about Russia's political system. He denied the government had any influence at state-run television, which ignores the Kremlin's political opponents, and said he had remained silent about the murder for 10 days because he didn't want «my words to influence the investigation.»
Still, Mr. Medvedev's expression of sympathy contrasted with Mr. Putin's response to the murder of another Novaya Gazeta reporter in 2006. Then Mr. Putin was mostly silent, and when asked to comment he disparaged the work of the journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, as «insignificant.»
Some analysts say Mr. Medvedev's moves could be an effort to build an image that is independent of his patron, Mr. Putin, who continues to dominate public life. Polls show public dissatisfaction with the government is rising as Russia's economic problems worsen.
«This is why, symbolically and functionally, he is carefully trying to influence opinion now,» said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst who said he learned of his appointment to the human-rights panel from news reports.
Committee members remain concerned that Mr. Medvedev's move is more decorative than meaningful. Mr. Putin created the council in 2004, but members complained that both Messrs. Putin and Medvedev let it languish while the government declined to confirm members.