Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin gave a strong hint today that he would run for a second spell as president in 2012, a step that would almost certainly give him a six-year term as Kremlin chief.
Mr Putin is the dominant partner in a ruling partnership with president Dmitry Medvedev, the younger man he tapped as his favoured successor when a constitutional two-term limit kept the former KGB spy out of the 2008 presidential race.
When asked if running for president in the 2012 election would damage Russia's political system, Mr Putin cited Franklin Roosevelt, who led the United States from 1933 until his death in office in April 1945 before a two-term limit was imposed.
"US president Roosevelt was voted in four times in a row because this did not contradict the American constitution," Mr Putin told Russia experts from the Valdai discussion group at a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Russian constitution prevented Mr Putin from running in 2008 but he will be free to run again in 2012. Mr Medvedev changed the constitution in late 2008 to extend future presidential term to six years.
"Neither I nor president Medvedev will do anything which contradicts current Russian legislation or the country's fundamental law - the constitution," Mr Putin said.
"How we will act in 2011 or at the start of 2012 we - I and president Medvedev - have said this repeatedly: we will act based on the real situation in the country, on what we have done, on the mood in society," the former president said.
"It is too early to speak about this, though."
Both Mr Putin (57) and Mr Medvedev (44) have suggested that one of them will run for president in 2012, and that they will agree in advance which one it will be.
"We must do our jobs," Mr Putin said. "Each of us is doing our job and in my view we are doing it effectively."
Many analysts expect Mr Putin to return to the Kremlin in 2012, a step that would be greeted by investors in Russia because he is seen as having the unique ability to arbitrate between the competing factions and clans in the Russian elite.
No other Russian politician commands the same authority or popular support, though some diplomats caution that Russia's political system would be far too dependent on the fate of one man if Mr Putin did return to the Kremlin for another six years.
Roosevelt was first elected US president in 1932, assuming the presidency in 1933 during in the depths of the Great Depression. Re-elected in 1936 and 1940, he took the United States into he second World War. He was re-elected in 1944 but died of a stroke on April 12th, 1945.
He was the only US president to serve four terms. Several years after Roosevelt's death, the US constitution was amended to include what had before been an unwritten rule on limiting presidents to two terms.
Reuters