The Wall Street Journal-20080215-Putin Stakes Out New Power Role- Russian Leader -Satisfied- With Presidential Tenure- Plans to Keep Sway as No- 2

Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080215

Putin Stakes Out New Power Role; Russian Leader 'Satisfied' With Presidential Tenure, Plans to Keep Sway as No. 2

Full Text (943  words)

MOSCOW -- Vladimir Putin held forth for nearly five hours in a valedictory Kremlin news conference, saying he hopes to serve for years as prime minister under protege Dmitry Medvedev, who is virtually certain to win the presidency in next month's elections.

Saying he was "satisfied" with his eight years as president and saw no "serious failures" during his tenure, a relaxed and confident Mr. Putin took questions from more than a thousand Russian and foreign journalists. Held in an ornate oval auditorium overlooking a stand of evergreens inside the Kremlin walls, the sessions have become an annual ritual, setting new records for attendance and length each year.

Thursday, Mr. Putin took a total of 80 questions on topics ranging from Kosovo independence to whether his wife had given him a valentine. (She hadn't yet, he said; as the event wound down, the young woman from Russia's Radio Chanson who asked the question came down from the balcony to hand him a red, heart-shaped card.) Reporters waved homemade signs and flags to try to get a chance to ask their questions.

Mr. Putin touted his economic performance, winning applause as he proudly pointed out that Russia now is by one measure the seventh- largest economy in the world, ahead of France and Italy.

His tone alternately scolding and warmly parental, Mr. Putin worked without notes and peppered his comments with his trademark coarse expressions. Asked about reports he has amassed huge wealth as president, he dismissed them as "nonsense . . . picked out of someone's nose and smeared across a piece of paper." Western groups like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe seeking to "teach" Russia the ways of democracy should "teach their wives to make cabbage soup" instead, he said.

Banned by the constitution from running for a third consecutive term, he is backing Mr. Medvedev, a longtime aide and ally, in the March 2 elections. Strong public support for Mr. Putin -- to whom Mr. Medvedev offered the prime-minister post immediately after he was nominated -- as well as tight Kremlin control over the political process and national media, mean Mr. Medvedev, 42 years old, already has the support of 80% of Russians, polls show.

In the clearest statement to date that he has no plan to leave the pinnacle of power, Mr. Putin said he is ready to stay as long as Mr. Medvedev remains president and supports him. Noting that he last week laid out goals for Russia's development through 2020, Mr. Putin said, "If I can see that in this capacity I can fulfill these goals, I will work as long as possible."

Denying he was addicted to power, Mr. Putin, 55 years old, complained he had worked "like a galley slave, night and day" as president but was happy to have the chance to continue to serve. Asked what job he expects to have a decade from now, Mr. Putin said only, "It's too early to say." He gave no hint he might retire.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Mr. Putin's comments about staying prime minister for years is "certainly not the kind of statement that is consistent with a healthy, thriving, vibrant democracy."

There is no precedent in Russia's modern history for a leader at the peak of his popularity to step down to a lower-ranking job, especially to work under a former subordinate. Many politicians and analysts have warned that Mr. Putin's greater popularity, experience and stature will inevitably lead to tensions between the prime minister and the new president, who in the Russian system enjoys broad authority over foreign and domestic policy.

But Mr. Putin said the prime minister's job would give him plenty of authority. Citing what he called "personal chemistry" between the two men, Mr. Putin said, "I trust him."

Under Mr. Putin, the Kremlin has taken control over most major decisions on everything from foreign policy to economics. The prime minister's role has been clearly subordinate. Prime ministers are frequently shown on state TV reporting to the president. During his tenure, Mr. Putin twice abruptly replaced his prime ministers.

"I have a hard time imagining how Medvedev will ask Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] why inflation is rising, why factories aren't being built, why orphans are running in the streets when all those things are the results of Putin's work in the past years," Communist leader and presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov told Echo Moscow radio.

Gleb Pavlovsky, a political consultant who has worked frequently for the Kremlin, said the new approach would require a major shake-up of the current government structure. "We're talking about two people at the top of the pyramid," he said. "Without Putin, the situation would unravel and different groups would fight it out for the presidency."

Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Medvedev first worked with Mr. Putin in the early 1990s in the city government in St. Petersburg, where Mr. Putin was deputy mayor. When Mr. Putin was named prime minister in 1999, he brought Mr. Medvedev to Moscow for a top staff job. When Mr. Putin became acting president at the end of that year, he appointed Mr. Medvedev to the first of several senior jobs in the Kremlin and the government.

Lacking Mr. Putin's background in the KGB, Mr. Medvedev has a reputation as a relative liberal within the narrow bounds of Kremlin orthodoxy. In his campaign speeches, he has sought to project an image as a progressive modernizer, avoiding some of the harsh anti-Western rhetoric for which Mr. Putin is known.

But officials say any ideological differences between the two are very modest.

---

Andrew Osborn contributed to this article.