Moscow, April 20 (Reuters): US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice renewed her criticism of Russia?s democratic record today and said President Vladimir Putin had too much personal power.

Rice, on her first visit to Moscow as Washington?s top diplomat, also said the US would be watching the outcome of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky?s trial ?to see what (it) says about the rule of law in Russia?.

A Moscow court is to hand down a verdict in Khodorkovsky?s fraud trial on April 27.

Her remarks, which included charges that Russia had no independent television channels, were unlikely to reach most Russians since all leading TV networks failed to report them.

TV kept reports of her visit brief and relegated them to a low position on news programmes, though newspapers and radios that enjoy greater independence gave her a warmer welcome.

Speaking in a live interview with Ekho Moskvy radio before meeting Putin, Rice renewed charges that Russia had some distance to go in developing its democracy, including allowing the growth of an independent media free from Kremlin pressure.

And though Rice couched her criticism in diplomatic tones, she singled out the powers that Putin had accumulated since taking over in 2000.

?All that we are saying is that for the US-Russia relationship to really deepen and for Russia to gain its full potential there needs to be democratic development.

?There should not be so much concentration of power just in the presidency, there needs to be an independent media... so that the Russian people can debate and decide together the democratic future of Russia,? she said.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the issue of the Kremlin leader?s powers had not figured on the formal agenda, although his comments suggested it was touched upon informally.