Putin rushes to deny rouble redenomination talk

(Corrects paragraph twelve to insert dropped word "not")

By Gleb Bryanski

MOSCOW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied a rumour that the authorities were about to redenominate the rouble, but he was unusually shy about economic policies during his annual news conference.

Russian media reported that some people have rushed to place cash on bank deposits and bought real estate in recent weeks as speculation about a redenomination spread in a country where painful memories of the crises of the 1900s are still fresh.

"Do you want me to eat earth from a flower pot? Make an oath in blood?" Putin said when asked for the second time month if he could give a guarantee there would be no banknote swap.

A redenomination would remove one or more zeroes off rouble banknotes, though one dollar buys only about 24.6 roubles <RUB=>.

Putin is due to step down in May after a March presidential election which his chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev is expected to win. Medvedev is due to make a keynote speech on economy in eastern Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Friday.

Although Russia enjoys record economic growth and has the world's third largest gold and forex reserves, ordinary Russians still have dark memories of the chaotic 1990s.