MOSCOW, January 30 - RAPSI. Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin said it is necessary to amend the Criminal Code by early 2013 to rule out its application in commercial disputes.

Putin made his proposal on amending the criminal legislation during the January 18 meeting with mass media heads and editors-in-chief.

"It is our top priority to clear the field for the businesses which are ready to compete fairly. And it is not enough to change our economic policy. We must modify the government, the executive and judicial powers in Russia. We must eliminate the prosecution "bias" displayed by law enforcement agencies, investigative services, prosecutors and judges. We shall root out the rudiments of the Soviet legal conscience from our criminal legislation and to remove all catches allowing to switch a commercial dispute into a criminal case. All economic cases must be transferred from common law courts to commercial courts," - Putin said in his article published in Vedomosti newspaper on Monday.

Putin has called on to publicly discuss these proposals with experts, judges and businessmen and "put forward all the necessary proposals by the end of this year."

"I'm sure that the State Duma deputies will support these amendments," Putin said.