Medvedev denies power struggle with Putin

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has denied any power struggle with his mentor predecessor and currently Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, saying their "tandem" was working smoothly.

"Today, there is no doubt that our tandem, as we are commonly referred to, is working rather coherently. All predictions that our tandem will break up at any moment have not proven to be true, as you can see," Medvedev said in an interview to German Der Spiegel magazine.

"As for personal preferences, I think that each individual has his or her own perceptions of whose views, conduct or presentation are more appealing. That is also true with regard to Vladimir Putin and myself," he said. "I do not wish to one day find myself and Vladimir Putin resembling the aged leaders from the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union standing on Lenin's Mausoleum in similar coats and hats, when it was impossible to tell Brezhnev from Suslov," he said.

Answering a question about the possible participation of Putin in the 2012 presidential elections, Medvedev urged former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to read exactly what Putin had actually said about his views on contesting the elections. "He (Putin) said just that if by the time of the next presidential electionss Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev would still be desirable as political leaders, then we shall sit down and discuss who will take part in the elections in order to avoid elbowing each other. He did not say that we would decide who will be the President," Medvedev said adding "This would be ridiculous." Gorbachev had crticised Putin for his recent suggestion of a return to the presidency in 2012, saying the country's future must be decided by the people. When asked whether he would be running for the presidency in 2012, Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club in September that he would reach an agreement with President Dmitry Medvedev "because we are of the same blood and of the same political outlook." Gorbachev said: "I believe that Prime Minister Putin's raising of the subject of 2012 is premature. Moreover, in this conversation, everything came down to 'we will sit down and reach an agreement.

But if an agreement is to be reached with anyone, it is with the electorate, with the people. But the people were absent from this conversation. I do not think this is right."

-- (UNI) -- 08DF2.xml

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