Don't shrug off mother nature for profit: Putin

President Vladimir Putin is strongly calling not to strive for economic expedience at the expense of environmental cleanliness.

"We big bosses all too often wave off like mosquitoes people who point out our bungles," he said to the State Council Presidium as it gathered for session in Rostov-on-Don, provincial centre in European Russia's south.

Among those demanding people, the President highlighted environmental experts.

"[Ecology] is one of the fields where we ought not to turn a deaf ear to good ideas. True, it is unpleasant to have one's mistakes harped on. But however disagreeable it may be, we have to overcome our bloated ambition and make use of every reasonable initiative that comes our way," he emphasised.

"We are always between Scylla and Charybdis - we must think at once about economic progress, employment, and social issues to tackle. If we work the bad old way - inaccurately and to small effect, we shall do more harm than good. That's not the kind of work we need," said President Putin.