Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has dismissed speculation that the country's newly rebranded police force would copy "Western models."

Speaking during an interview with a Moscow radio station on Wednesday, Nurgaliyev said the new police reform law, which came into effect on March 1, contained international police norms.

"Their effectiveness has been confirmed by long practice, international experience, and the level of police authority in many foreign countries," the 54-year-old general told Militseiskaya Volna (Police Channel).

He said there was no "blind copying" in the new law but that it drew on international experience.

Many Russians see the country's police as corrupt and brutal, but Nurgaliyev said the "new format" would dispel that view.

"The police should not dominate, but serve society," Nurgaliyev said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to clean up the force following a series of reported incidents involving Russian police, including an off-duty officer who shot dead two people at random in a Moscow supermarket after going on a shooting spree two years ago.

Medvedev has since sacked a couple of dozen top generals but analysts say this has done little to tackle abuse and corruption.

MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti)