President Vladimir Putin, fresh from a resounding election win for a second Kremlin term, showed his trademark ?business as usual? style yesterday after pledging to drive the economy forward and improve Russians? lives.

Putin?s predictable victory on Sunday over five rivals was not expected to move markets focused on months ahead when Putin?s resolve to cut red tape and roll back the economy?s chronic dependence on oil exports is put to the test.

?I will meet top officials on Monday as usual, hold several working meetings with colleagues from different ministers and have several telephone conversations with foreign colleagues,? Itar-Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying. With nearly all votes counted, Putin won 71 percent of votes ? enough for an outright victory. His closest rival, communist Nikolai Kharitonov scored 13.8 percent.

Speaking to reporters in his election headquarters early on Monday, Putin pledged tangible gains for voters. ?I promise you that all democratic gains of our people will without any doubt be upheld and guaranteed. And we shall not stop with what has been achieved. We shall strengthen the multi-party system,? he said.

Putin also vowed to phold media freedom and ensure stable growth of the economy. His key policy aim is to modernise a country in which a quarter of 145 million residents were below the poverty line. ?This has to be done carefully so as not to damage or undermine people?s confidence in what we are doing,? he said. Putin?s victory was never in doubt. But liberals alleged he monopolised state-run television and limited media freedom.

Both US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had suggested in interviews that Putin?s rivals had been denied fair media access. Putin brushed aside the criticism as ?dictated by the domestic political balance? in a US election year. But he pledged if comments warranted reflection ?we won?t only take note of it, but will also draw the appropriate conclusions?. Much of the support for Putin among apathetic voters was rooted in the stability he introduced after a decade of turmoil under his predecessor Boris Yeltsin and a measure of increased prosperity, mainly in major cities. Putin acknowledged there had been no big improvement in living standards. ?What has been done recently is not well-being,? he said. ?It isn?t improving well-being. It is rather the dawn of well-being.?

Russia?s economy has grown by more than seven percent in 2003, as oil exports have soared. But economists fear that a buoyant economy could be quickly deflected if world oil prices hit the skids.