Dmitry Medvedev said he wants a second term as President of Russia, but rejected the possibility that he and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin run against each other in elections in 2012, according to Financial Times.
Medvedev reiterated that he and Putin will decide together who will run. “I think any leader who takes a job as president must simply want to run”, he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Medvedev dismissed speculation that both should run for election in 2012, as “hard to imagine”. “Vladimir Putin and I – and Vladimir Putin is my colleague and an old friend – represent the same political force. And competition between us could be detrimental to our tasks and goals”, he said.
Russian president insisted that despite recent signs of disagreement, “saying that there is a gap between him and Prime Minister is absolutely inappropriate”.
The issue of who will be the official candidate for the presidency in March 2012 election has become a focus of Russian policy.
On the other hand, the Russian president suggested that if he wins a second term, he will introduce a more competitive political system, essential to carry out his vision of modernizing Russia. “Political competition is necessary for economic development”, he said.
In one of its most liberal statements, Medvedev said that some of the measures implemented by Putin, his mentor and predecessor in the presidency, would be eliminated. He suggested that the election of governors, that Putin abolished, could be restored.