MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin denied on Tuesday waging war on Internet freedoms, saying restrictions imposed by Russia were meant mainly to protect children from indecent content.

Trying to calm fears he is clamping down on Internet freedoms to head off criticism and protests, Putin told a forum on Internet start-up companies: "We've debated these restrictions on paedophilia, on the promotion of drugs, terrorism or advocating suicide a lot."

"But listen, we are all grown ups, let's stop. Let's leave our children in peace," he said. "But there is another matter, that under this pretext ... one should not introduce any restrictions on civil liberties and the free market."

Russia has passed legislation banning sites that contain child pornography, drug-related or extremist material, or advocate suicide to protect children, but some critics say the law opened the door to restrictions over more general content.

The government has also moved against blogs, one of the few popular media platforms still outside the Kremlin's reach. Putin signed a law last month requiring websites that attract more than 3,000 daily visits to register by name with a communications watchdog.