"We need neither provocateurs, on the one hand, nor corrupt [government officials], on the other hand," Putin said in a live session broadcast on national television networks and radio stations.
MORE: Coverage of President Putin's speech in Russian from RFE/RL's Russian Service.
"We should bring order to the [retail and wholesale] trade system, to food markets, we should bring order on issues of migration and labor."
Putin was responding to a question posed by a listener in northwestern city of Kondopoga, scene of a recent spate of ethnic violence during which local residents accused immigrants of monopolizing the city's markets.
Two Russians died in a wave of violence following a brawl in a restaurant between a group of ethnic Russians and Chechens on August 30.
