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Putin 'may be back in 2012 poll' Putin 'may seek 2012 re-election'
(about 9 hours later)
President Vladimir Putin has said he does not rule out running again for Russia's top job in 2012 or 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he expects to remain an influential figure in Russian politics after he steps down next March.
In wide-ranging discussions with Western reporters, Mr Putin also said he wanted to remain an influential figure when he stands down next March. Speaking to Western journalists and academics, he did not rule out standing for president again in 2012 or 2016.
But he stressed that he did not want to weaken the position of his successor. He also suggested the race to succeed him was wide open, with at least six credible candidates including Russia's new PM, Viktor Zubkov.
There have been rumours that Mr Putin might use his high ratings to change the constitution and stay for a third consecutive term. Mr Putin described the little-known Mr Zubkov as a "real professional".
Weighing options Mr Zubkov was picked from obscurity to run the Russian government just this week.
Mr Putin's comments came during his meeting with Western reporters and academics at his presidential residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. 'Wide open'
He made it clear he was definitely planning to stand down next year, says the BBC's Bridget Kendall, who was at the meeting. Speaking at his holiday home on the Black Sea in southern Russia, Mr Putin lavished generous praise on his new prime minister.
Mr Putin said he had not yet decided what to do next or whether he would stay in politics, but he insisted that he would remain in Russia and was weighing options, our correspondent says. Until he was elevated to run the Russian government on Wednesday Viktor Zubkov was a little-known bureaucrat who had made his career in the tax police.
Touching on next year's presidential election, he said there were several likely candidates, singling out for praise new Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. But Mr Putin described him as a brilliant and pragmatic administrator whom he had known well since the early 1990s, when they both worked for the mayor of St Petersburg.
Mr Putin was speaking after his surprise nomination of Mr Zubkov as PM was accepted by 381 votes to 47 in the lower house of parliament on Friday. Mr Putin also gave a heavy hint that Mr Zubkov might emerge as a candidate to succeed him as president, though perhaps not the only one.
The field, said Mr Putin, was wide open, with as many as five credible candidates already. Mr Putin will step down in March at the end of his second and final term as president.
But there was a strong hint that he would like to carry on being a force in Russian politics, and that he could still potentially be a power behind the throne.
Peaceful co-existence
Mr Putin said he had not decided what to do next and was considering several options.
He insisted he did not want to weaken the position of his successor.
And he would be the first to argue that Russia needs a strong leader.
But he said his main concern was to make sure that Russia remained stable and did not veer off course.
He pointedly did not rule out standing again for president in 2012 or 2016, and described himself as a factor that the next Russian president would have to take into account.
He and the next president, Mr Putin said, would need to work out a way to co-exist.