"I think that even in Europe every democracy has its own face," Angela Merkel said on the concluding third day of Russia's debut G8 summit in St. Petersburg.
Merkel, who is celebrating her 52nd birthday Monday, said she had engaged in no debates with President Vladimir Putin on the issue.
"I am not going to tell him how democracy should be practiced in Russia," she said.
Merkel's cautious approach to the subject of democracy in Russia follows Putin's statement on Saturday after negotiations with his U.S. counterpart, George Bush.
"We believe that no one knows better than us how to strengthen our state. Yet we know that we cannot strengthen it without developing democratic institutions. But we will do this independently," Putin said.
Merkel said that her bilateral meeting with Putin had broadly highlighted democratic issues.
"We compared our election systems, considered various forms of democracy in Europe," the chancellor said. "We do not discuss what kind of democracy Russia must have but if there are any problems, we discuss them."
Merkel continued that she was, nevertheless, determined to bring up the issue of NGOs in Russia.
An April law imposing more stringent and complicated financial reporting and registration requirements for NGOs working in Russia has been subject to vehement criticism in the West for being too restrictive and backsliding on democracy.
