MOSCOW (AFP) — When Dmitry Medvedev takes over the Kremlin after next month's presidential election, his portrait will spring up in bureaucrats' offices across Russia -- but not over the desk of his likely prime minister Vladimir Putin.
Putin -- who confirmed Thursday that he wanted to switch from the presidency to premiership after he steps down this May following two Kremlin terms -- said there was nothing "shameful" with the common practise of showing loyalty to the president by hanging up his picture.
The president "in a way is a symbol of the country like the crest, the flag or the anthem," he said.
But "if I become head of the government, there is something particularly unique in the fact that I was president for eight years, and didn't do too badly," Putin said. "To build relations with Dmitry Anatolevich Medvedev if he is elected president, I don't need to hang his portrait."
Having served two terms as president, Putin is barred by the constitution from standing in the March 2 presidential election, which Medvedev is all but certain to win.
Analysts believe Putin is preparing to become a strong prime minister under a relatively weak Medvedev presidency.
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