Putin rejects call for poll re-run

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, has rejected the opposition demands for a re-run of the parliamentary elections.

Russia's growing opposition movement, which has held large protests in the past weeks, has accused Putin and his United Russia party of massive vote fraud.

The United Russia's majority in the Duma, or parliament, was slashed but it managed to cling to power.

In his first public comments since the demonstrations, Putin hit back at opposition leaders accusing them of being at the beck and call of foreign powers and of trying to delegitimise the election process.

Al Jazeera's Simon MacGregor Wood reports from Moscow.