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| Europe |
| Medvedev wants to stay on as Russian president, says leading MP |
| 2011-05-01 |
| Medvedev set to defy pact with prime minister Vladimir Putin and seek second term, claims prominent politician President Dmitry Medvedev is pushing to extend his tenure in the Kremlin against the wishes of Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin, a senior politician from the country's ruling party has told the Guardian. Konstantin Zatulin, a prominent MP with United Russia, which dominates parliament and is headed by Putin, said Medvedev's allies were waging a campaign to undermine the prime minister behind a public facade of unity between the two men. Until recently it was widely assumed that Medvedev would not run in presidential elections next March, so that Putin could return to his old job and serve two more terms to 2024. Most analysts had presumed that Putin would put himself forward while Medvedev would bow out meekly after a single term. However, Zatulin said in an interview that the president's aides were jockeying to keep him in the Kremlin by eroding Putin's support in parliament. "Medvedev wants to stay, he has broken the agreement and now Putin will have to persuade him to back off," he said. |
| Posted by:Delphi |