Current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is stepping aside for former President Vladimir Putin in the upcoming 2012 Russian elections. They will switch positions as Medvdev will head up the Party’s list as Prime Minister.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday announced he will step aside in 2012 polls and backed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return to the Kremlin for a new stint that could last until 2024.
Ending months of uncertainty over which of the men would run, Putin swiftly accepted Medvedev’s proposal to run for president in carefully-choreographed speeches at the ruling party annual congress that dismayed liberals.
In an apparent consolation prize for the man who will go down in history as post-Soviet Russia’s only one term president, Putin said Medvedev should become his prime minister in 2012 and head the party list in upcoming legislative polls.
Putin was calling the shots anyway, so this is just a formality.
Tags: Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin
