MOSCOW (AFP) — A solid blueprint for Russia's future power structure emerged Tuesday after months of uncertainty as Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin's handpicked successor, said Putin should become head of government.
Medvedev, the soft-spoken technocrat endorsed by Putin to succeed him as Russian president, said Putin, 55, should switch to the role of prime minister after stepping down.
"I consider it of utmost importance for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in the highest post of executive power, the post of head of government of the Russian Federation," Medvedev said in an address on national television.
The stunning statement meant that Russia in the space of 24 hours appeared to have resolved the two biggest questions facing the country: who will win the March 2 presidential election to replace Putin, and what Putin will do on leaving office.
Putin's endorsement on Monday makes Medvedev, a 42-year-old trained lawyer and first deputy premier, all but certain to win an election in which there are no other heavyweight candidates.
Medvedev's call means Putin -- who has long said he wanted to retain an important role after leaving the Kremlin -- will likely from next year become a powerful premier.
Putin did not give his immediate reaction and no timeframe was suggested for the switch.
However the speech, in which Medvedev wore a blue suit and sat flanked by the Russian tricolor flag and an ornamental Russian crest, was clearly meant to imply that the proposal was official policy.
"If Medvedev announced it, then the likelihood is that it will take place," Kremlin-connected analyst Vyacheslav Nikonov told the Interfax news agency.
The world has been kept waiting for months to know who will replace Putin at the head of the nuclear missile power and world's biggest energy exporter.
No major political figures have expressed an ambition to run for president in 2008. Even Medvedev had been silent on the issue until his surprise endorsement on Monday.
The sudden rise of Medvedev, seen as a relative liberal in the hawkish Kremlin, was welcomed by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel who spoke of his "experience in government and business" during a phone call with Putin.
Medvedev emphasised that the goal was to maintain "continuity" to the policies of Putin, who is required by the constitution to step down at the end of his second four-year term.
Few analysts believe that Putin, who has steadily concentrated power in his hands during his eight years in the Kremlin, is ready to retire.
Earlier this month his United Russia party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections framed here as a referendum on Putin's rule, and criticised in the West as rigged.
"Everyone understands perfectly well that Putin wants to remain in power," said Yevgeny Volk, political analyst at the Moscow office of the conservative US think-tank Heritage Foundation.
It remains unclear how much authority Putin could exercise as prime minister, which under the constitution is a markedly lower rank than president.
But analysts describe Medvedev as a politically weak figure with unswerving loyalty to Putin.
As first deputy prime minister, Medvedev has for the past two years been in charge of national social projects to improve agriculture, education, health and housing.
He has had little say in foreign policy, an area Putin clearly relishes, but is not traditionally dealt with by the prime minister.
Russian newspapers said Tuesday that Medvedev's lack of a power base among the security forces faction could make him easier for Putin to control.
Putin "will be an executive adviser for the future president on an unlimited range of issues", Vremya Novostei quoted a senior official as saying.
Another Kremlin-connected analyst, Sergei Markov, told Interfax that Putin would use United Russia's huge parliamentary majority to bolster his standing as premier.
Putin and Medvedev "will de facto be a pair in which the real leader will be Putin, since the country knows Vladimir Putin better", Markov said. "Putin will control not only the parliament majority but also the security faction."
Investors are also welcoming the rise of Medvedev. "This is very positive news," said Chris Weafer, Uralsib investment bank chief strategist.
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