Russian Candidate Wants Putin As PM

Dmitry Medvedev, Likely Successor To Vladimir Putin, Suggests President Keep A Powerful Role

(CBS/AP)  Dmitry Medvedev, the hand-picked candidate to succeed President Vladimir Putin, called Tuesday for Putin become prime minister after the March 2 election.

Putin is prohibited by law for running for a third consecutive term, but clearly wants to retain a powerful role once he steps down. Medvedev's proposal would provide such a role, especially if the constitution were amended to increase the prime minister's powers - which could be done readily with the new parliament dominated by pro-Putin politicians.

Medvedev, 42, has spent most of his career as a loyal comrade of Putin, and his proposal for him to become prime minister almost certainly was made with prior consultation with the president.

"Having expressed my readiness to run for president of Russia, I appeal to (Putin) with a request to give his principal agreement to head the Russian government after the election of the new president of our country," Medvedev said in televised address a day after Putin endorsed his candidacy.

"I think it is crucial for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in the most important role in the executive branch - that of prime minister," Medvedev said.

Putin's support for Medvedev virtually ensures that he will win the election.

"Medved" in Russian means "a bear," and his name coincides with the symbol of the pro-Putin party, United Russia - which has a brown bear on its party banner, says CBS News Moscow bureau chief Svetlana Berdnikova.

Medvedev also said that after the election, Russia must continue to pursue the policies driven by Putin in the past eight years.

Medvedev's support for Putin's policies and his proposal that he become prime minister were sure to raise questions of whether he would be a genuinely independent president or essentially a figurehead, doing Putin's bidding.

Medvedev, who projects a milder and more sympathetic image than the steely and often sardonic Putin, nonetheless echoed the prickly national pride and distrust of the West that characterize Putin's public statements.

"The world's attitudes toward Russia has been changed. They don't lecture us like schoolchildren. They respect us and they reckon with us. Russia has been returned to its overwhelming position in the world community," Medvedev said in a three-minute statement broadcast on state television.

He also praised efforts under Putin to restore the country's armed forces after years of post-Soviet neglect and underfunding, saying "Our military defense and security have been increased."

Despite the assertion of surging military might, Medvedev is not considered a Kremlin hard-liner, in contrast with the others who had vied for Putin's endorsement, chiefly fellow First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Both Medvedev and Putin worked under St. Petersburg's reformist Mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. After Putin became prime minister in 1999, he brought Medvedev to Moscow to become deputy chief of staff of the Cabinet. He then moved up to become deputy chief of staff for the president, was appointed to head the board of state natural gas giant Gazprom in 2002 and became full presidential chief of staff in 2003.
In 2005, Putin named him a first deputy prime minister.

[lfitts1]

Funny, there were no innuendos about Brown when he followed Blair in as PM...

Russia is a functioning democracy...Get used to it! I''''m glad Putin is keeping a hand in the leadership of Russia.

FDR was elected president for four terms...though I am at odds with his policies in retrospect, I wouldn''''t even entertain such an asinine idea that America ceased to be a democracy because the people thought enough of him to vote for him time and again!

The Putin-haters amusingly paint all Russia as un-democratic because the people of Russia had the good sense to vote for Putin....They are as blind on this point as they were about Iraq and 9-11...as blind as they continue to be about Iran and Israel.

Posted by Prinzowhales

Is that comedy and sarcasm or are you so gullible and naive ???

[sevenveils]

Dmitry Medvedev, the world welcomes little, Putin''s new puppet.

[excoachken]

Not since Bill Clinton has a world power been so concerned about it''s President Putin'' out.

[prinzowhales]

Funny, there were no innuendos about Brown when he followed Blair in as PM...

Russia is a functioning democracy...Get used to it! I''m glad Putin is keeping a hand in the leadership of Russia.

FDR was elected president for four terms...though I am at odds with his policies in retrospect, I wouldn''t even entertain such an asinine idea that America ceased to be a democracy because the people thought enough of him to vote for him time and again!

The Putin-haters amusingly paint all Russia as un-democratic because the people of Russia had the good sense to vote for Putin....They are as blind on this point as they were about Iraq and 9-11...as blind as they continue to be about Iran and Israel.

[iceman_1960]

"Dmitry Medvedev, the hand-picked candidate to succeed President Vladimir Putin, called Tuesday for Putin become prime minister after the March 2 election."

I don"t care for Medvedev"s politics much, but his movie reviews are pretty good.

[nolalou]

Whatever legitimate opposition there was in Russia has been silenced, with it''s leaders arrested or intimidated. What they have now is a dictatorship disguising it''s self as a ''democracy''.

[samrensho]

Russia is about as democratic as Pakistan. This choice comes as no surprise. Vladimir will continue to call the shots. Just as Chaney does in the US.

[neitherone]

Check and mate!

[runningralph]

I wish they could come up with another one like Mikhail Gorbachev. In fact, I wish we could come up with someone like Gorbachev. Great man. But I understand Putin not wanting to turn loose. He is afraid Russia could slide in chaos and anarchy. But he should step aside and try to influence government from the sidelines. Let someone else be the figurehead.

[afmca]

Make no mistake about it - Russia is not even close to being a democracy. Putin wants to make the next government appear legitimate, but he is really creating a cult around him. A true leader and visionary would realize that Russia''s best chance of representative, democratic government is to fully step aside and begin the pattern of total political turnover. It would take a great man to do this for his country; Putin, unfortunately, is not that man.

[tbweb]

Russia practices a limited, watered down version of democracy. Many would view a candidate supported by Putin for Russian President, who then turns around and supports Putin for Russian Prime Minister as corrupt in a real democracy!