MOSCOW, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a regional governor a public dressing-down on Wednesday after he was unable to get in touch with him over the handling of ethnic riots.

The upbraiding, aired on Russia's main television channels, came about after a woman who took part in a question-and-answer session with Putin last week complained that local officials mishandled ethnic riots in Kondopoga on the Finnish border in September.

"This was the first time in my post (as president) that I could not reach a regional head," a stern-looking Putin told a red-faced Sergei Katanandov, governor of northwestern Karelia region, sitting stiffly in front of him.

Ordinary Russians have a tradition of appealing to tsars or Communist-era leaders to judge and punish faulty local rulers.

"I think this will be a good lesson for you, as well as for any official of your rank. All of us must take concern for what heppens in our country to our hearts," Putin said.

Katanandov mumbled that he agreed with Putin, and said he had met the woman who had complained to the president.

Last weekend state television ran a special report on a large-scale police operation on drug dealers in the central Nizhny Novgorod region after another woman complained to Putin in the same question-and-answer session about rampant drug addiction in the area.

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