Putin calls ruble, Russian economy strong

MOSCOW, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday rumors of plans for the revaluation of the ruble are unfounded.

"I can repeat what the president said about (the) rumors," said Arkady Dvorkovich, head of the presidential expert service. "It's a lot of rubbish."

Dvorkovich also denied there were any plans to reorganize Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry.

Putin, on the eve of his departure from office, offered his thoughts on the Russian economy to a State Council session. He said Russia is too dependent on natural resource exports, and needs to increase spending on education, healthcare and science, ITAR-TASS, the Russian news agency reported.

He called for reductions in state control and for more private investment.

Putin said Russia was a year ahead in its goal of doubling its economy within 10 years, provided growth maintains an annual pace of 7 percent to 8 percent.

"Today, we have already completely restored the state of socio-economic development we lost in the 1990s," he said. More work needs to be done, he said. "We are still modernizing our economy in a very fragmented way."

Putin is scheduled to leave office after the March 2 presidential elections.