Putin to Become Prime Minister

Via Bloomberg -

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin's nominated successor, Dmitry Medvedev, said that if elected president in March, he'll appoint Putin as his prime minister, giving the current leader a platform to retain power after his term ends.

Russia needs "to ensure the continuity of the course of the past eight years," Medvedev said in a speech broadcast live on state television today. He said he asked Putin to "consent to head the Russian government after the election of a new president."

Putin, who has to step down in May after serving two consecutive four-year terms, said yesterday that he supports Medvedev, 42, as his successor. The Russian leader has long said he'll retain a guiding role once out of the Kremlin and today's announcement gives him the option of staying at the heart of decision-making.

"This is the most simple, elegant and legal way for Putin to maintain influence," said James Fenkner, who manages $100 million of assets at Moscow-based Red Star Asset Management. "Continuity is essential. Having a vacuum or infighting in the coming years could damage Russia's economy."

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Putin, 55, first raised the possibility that he might become prime minister on Oct. 1. He said last month that a strong showing for his United Russia party in the Dec. 2 parliamentary election would give him the ``moral right'' to guide Russia after his term ends. United Russia won 315 out of 450 seats in the State Duma, or lower house, enough to initiate constitutional amendments.

"Essentially the role of the prime minister will grow, while that of the president will shrink," Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a political analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in a telephone interview. "The president will become more ceremonial."

While the Russian leader has ruled out changing the constitution to weaken his successor's powers, Kryshtanovskaya and other analysts say Putin's control of parliament gives him sufficient leverage to ensure that the next president respects his wishes.

Putin told a group of Western experts in September that his "influence" after 2008 would be "a factor that the new president will have to deal with."

Putin would be able to impeach the next president with his two-thirds parliamentary majority if the successor does not comply, said Sergei Markov, head of the Institute of Political Studies in Moscow, which advises the Kremlin.

The Russian leader could also return to the presidency, either by getting Medvedev to step down or waiting for the end of the new president's term in 2012, said Markov.

"This is possible because Medvedev is very close psychologically to Putin and is absolutely loyal to him," Markov said by telephone.