Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sought to bolster his authority ahead of a March presidential election on Tuesday by promising hefty pay raises for police in Moscow.

Visiting a police academy in the Altai region, his final stop in a five-day trip across Siberia, Putin, 59, singled out police in Moscow as due for salary increases.

"There are problems with police (pay raises) in some regions, including Moscow and the Russian north," he told an audience in Barnaul ranging from cadets and rank-and-file officers to interior ministry officials.

"They also had a pay raise, but not as big as elsewhere. The size of the wage increase in these regions will reach the same level," he said, promising further hikes. Putin hopes to avoid a runoff by winning at least half the vote in the election, and has courted high-tech workers, striving middle-class entrepreneurs and defense industry employees in separate cities during the trip.

Reuters - Global Times