Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday said that an outburst of nationalist violence in Moscow proved that Russia could not allow its law enforcement bodies to weaken, despite the arguments of 'our liberal intelligentsia.' In a question-and-answer session that went on for four hours and 29 minutes, Putin offered a bravura defense of the central control that is a hallmark of his leadership. His tone was set a few minutes into the televised program, which is an annual event. A caller said the police were not protecting members of ethnic minorities from attacks by ethnic Russian nationalists, so that many of his friends were afraid to leave their homes. Putin said extremism should be stopped -- and went on to warn against maligning the police. 'These bodies of power carry out the state's most important function,' Putin said. 'Otherwise, our liberal intelligentsia will have to shave off their goatees and put on helmets themselves and go out to the square to fight radicals themselves. I think this would be the worst-case scenario.' Emphasizing the need to maintain order, Putin also said, 'The state exists in order to provide for the interests of the majority.' Asked whether the imprisonment of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former oil baron, was justified, Putin quoted a song by the beloved singer Vladimir Vysotsky. 'A thief should sit in jail,' he said. He compared Khodorkovsky's case to that of Bernard L. Madoff, who received a 150-year sentence for the largest Ponzi scheme in history. His comment comes days before a court ruling in the case of Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, who was seen as a political rival to Putin when he was arrested in 2003. Khodorkovsky is nearing the end of an eight-year prison sentence for tax evasion, and the ruling is being scrutinized by many as a test of Russia's commitment to the rule of law. Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Karinna A. Moskolenko, said the prime minister's widely publicized comments constituted 'the highest possible political pressure' and left virtually no chance that her client would be acquitted. 'In a democratic country, such things are not done,' she said. 'It is a massive, well-planned act of pressure on the court, which is now in the deliberation room.' The televised session displayed Putin at his populist best, reeling off a seemingly endless series of economic indicators and answering questions for hours without so much as a glance at notes. Many questions were delivered in a spirit of open admiration -- 'What is the secret of your secret?' was one, and 'How is your puppy, Buffy?' -- and Putin was relaxed and fluent, enjoying himself before a doting crowd. Most questions focused on economic matters, like utility costs, and he promised that the Russian economy would return to pre-crisis levels early in 2012. The marathon event underlined Putin's outsize role in Russia, nearly three years after he stepped down from the presidency. His successor and protege, President Dmitry A. Medvedev, has articulated a tentative reform agenda well received in the West, warning that Russia risks slipping into economic backwardness, corruption and political stagnation. But Medvedev seems to be shrinking back from bold pronouncements lately. Putin sends a clear message that he is not only running the country but operating it manually. His appearance Thursday is bound to be scrutinized for clues to Russia's central political mystery: which of the two men will run for president in 2012. Putin barely mentioned Medvedev. He smiled, though, when someone asked who ran the country when he and Medvedev were both sleeping. 'We take turns sleeping,' he said. (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Putin's unscripted answers offered some surprising insights into his views. One audience member asked about the recent scandal in the village of Kushchevskaya, where a local criminal gang had acted with impunity for years thanks to collusion with local authorities. Putin said the case showed that 'the entire government system failed' -- and went on, oddly, to defend his 2004 decision to abolish the direct election of regional governors. 'We changed the procedure because we wanted to prevent criminals from getting into power,' he said. 'Unfortunately, in our situation, where civil society doesn't work, with so-called direct elections you often have a criminal behind some candidate. They use their illegal money to affect election campaigns.' Asked about the aims of three prominent members of the pro-Western opposition, Putin said they wanted to return to the status they had in the 1990s, when they teamed up with Khodorkovsky and Boris A. Berezovsky to steal 'not a few billions.' 'They were dragged away from the trough, they lost some money, they want to come back and refill their pockets,' he said. 'If we allow them to do it, they won't restrict themselves to a few billions; they will sell off all of Russia.' Vladimir Milov, one of the three men mentioned, announced in his Twitter feed that he planned to sue Putin for slander. One of the most emotional moments of the day came when Putin -- who served as a counterintelligence officer for the KGB -- was asked about a turncoat official who reportedly revealed the identities of members of a ring of Russian sleeper spies living under assumed identities in the United States. Putin said Russian intelligence services would not seek to 'liquidate' the officer for what he had done, but he said traitors 'will snuff themselves out.' 'A man betrayed his friends, his comrades in arms,' Putin said.'How can he live with this all his life? How can he look his children in the eyes? Pig. 'No matter what happens, and no matter what 30 pieces of silver those people got, it will stick in his throat, I assure you,' he said. 'A person who chooses this fate will regret it a thousand times.' 