Putin agrees to run for president in tandem reshuffle

RT:  Prime Minister Putin has accepted Dmitry Medvedev’s proposal for him to run for the presidency in 2012, made at the convention of the United Russia party in Moscow. Putin also put forward Medvedev to lead the party’s election list.

­“I consider it to be the right move for the congress to support party’s leader Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate,” announced the Russian president, talking of the presidential elections, which have been set for March 2012.

Vladimir Putin, who is the leader of the United Russia Party, addressing the delegates at the gathering, in his turn, has called on the party to put Dmitry Medvedev at the top of the list of candidates at the forthcoming parliamentary elections in December 2011.

Putin has also expressed confidence that, with Dmitry Medvedev heading the party electoral list, the party would win the parliamentary elections in December, thus enabling Medvedev to head the future government of the Russian Federation.

“I’m sure the United Russia Party will win and, having nationwide support, Dmitry Medvedev will form an effectively-functioning young team of managers and head the government of the Russian Federation to continue then modernization of all aspects of our life,” he said.

PM Putin confirmed that the agreement between he and the president about what to do in the future had been reached “several years ago.”

“The fact that we have not been disclosing our position publicly for quite a time is a matter of political expediency and conforming to the political genus in our country – I hope our citizens understand that.”

However, Putin said, neither he nor Medvedev are pre-occupied with the positions they take. “Much more important is what we all do, what results we get and the opinion of the citizens about all this,” he stressed.