Moscow, April 25, SPA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia's main political task was to develop as a free,democratic nation with European ideals, and stressed thatindividual freedoms would not be compromised by the state'sown strengthening. "We are a free nation and our place in the modern worldwill be defined only by how successful and strong we are,"Putin said in his annual state of the nation address. Lawmakers from Russia's lower and upper houses ofparliament, government officials, governors and religiousrepresentatives gathered in the Kremlin's Marble Hall forthe speech. The address _ Putin's sixth of his two-term presidency _was to outline the main trends of Russia's domestic andforeign policy. It was Putin's second state of the nationspeech since he was overwhelmingly re-elected to a secondterm in 2004. Putin said the nation's main challenges now were tostrengthen the state, boost the rule of law and judicialinstitutions and deepen respect for both individualliberties and the activities of non-governmentalorganizations. On the economy, Putin said tax inspectors don't have theright to terrorize business, and he called on thegovernment to lower the statute of limitations to threeyears for challenging the results of past privatizationdeals. He said Russia needed foreign investment, but added thatsuch investment comes only to those countries where the"rules of the game" are clear. Putin said that the threat of terrorism in Russia remainedhigh, and he said that parliamentary elections scheduledfor later this year in Chechnya should lay the basis forstability and democracy in the region. He also stressedthat the volatile, impoverished south Caucasus region inparticular needed new jobs and infrastructure to booststability.--SPA1311 Local Time 1011 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/257764