MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian political parties may soon be freed of the necessity to collect a set amount of signatures in order to register for parliamentary polls, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

"I believe that in the long-term we should give up the collection of signatures as a method of granting parties the right to take part in polls," he said during his annual address to parliament.

He added the same practice should also be applied to elections in Russia's regions.

During last year's state-of-the-nation address, Medvedev proposed reducing the number of signatures for those parties intending to run for the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. His proposal was later adopted.