Putin confides to the nation: I want to be President again

Asked if he wants to spend more time with his family, Russian Prime Minister declares: 'Don't hold your breath'

(AFP/Getty)

Vladimir Putin has given the strongest hint yet that he may return to the Russian presidency in 2012. During a marathon televised question-and answer-session with the Russian public yesterday, the Prime Minister said he'd think about running in three years' time, and told a questioner who asked if he'd like to retire from politics and devote more time to family life, "don't hold your breath".

Mr Putin, who held the presidency from 2000-08, spent over four hours answering questions from carefully selected studio guests, video link-ups with factories across Russia, and also took telephone calls and responded to questions sent in by SMS and email. The whole session was broadcast live on state-controlled television and radio. It comes at a time when polls have shown that Mr Putin's popularity rating, while still a very respectable 65 per cent, has fallen by 7 percentage points over the past month.

In accordance with the Russian constitution, Mr Putin was forced to step down as President last year after two consecutive terms, giving power to Dmitry Medvedev in a carefully managed transition. However, most analysts believe he still calls the shots from the prime ministerial chair, and he is viewed by the majority of Russians as the most powerful man in the country. There are no laws to stop him from returning to the presidency in 2012, and with a recent constitutional amendment lengthening the presidential term to six years, he could be in office until 2024.

"I will think about it, there is still enough time," said the Prime Minister, when asked if he would run in 2012.

While Mr Putin has never explicitly said that he will run in 2012, he has previously hinted that he and Mr Medvedev would sit down together and decide which one of them will run. And analysts say his interest in regaining the top job is unmistakable. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist, told the Associated Press that Mr Putin had decided to run again years ago. "I think it was decided in 2007," she said. "I think it was decided that Putin should not seek a third consecutive term, but that after four years he could return to the presidency."

Mr Medvedev, asked about the interview later yesterday, echoed Mr Putin's view that the two would co-operate. "Prime Minister Putin said he doesn't rule out this possibility and I also say I don't rule it out," he said. "But this is only if Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin have a chance." He said the two would "agree on how not to elbow each other and make a decision useful for the country".

But yesterday belonged firmly to Mr Putin, who used the phone-in to further position himself as a kind of "benevolent Tsar". Many of the questions came from concerned citizens asking Mr Putin to help them out. He offered assurances to the elderly that their pensions would go up, promised more support for families of victims of a Siberian dam disaster earlier in the year, and pledged to investigate several complaints from callers.

A special live link-up was made with Pikalevo, a small single-industry town where factories closed down earlier in the year. Then, Mr Putin travelled to Pikalevo, and in front of television cameras humiliated Oleg Deripaska, once Russia's richest man, forcing him to sign a contract to ensure that the factories would continue working.

"I wanted to give a signal to officials at all levels that they should be responsible for what happens," said Mr Putin of his decision to travel to Pikalevo personally. "If the situation demands it, I'll come to you again, and I'll come to any other place in Russia – that's my duty."

The discussion mostly revolved around the economy and standards of living, but at times touched on everything from foreign policy to attitudes towards Joseph Stalin. The role of Stalin has become a political hot potato in Russia of late, with many blaming Mr Putin's policies for whitewashing Stalin's crimes and encouraging respect for the dictator. Mr Putin refused to unequivocally condemn Stalin, saying it was impossible to make a generalisation about whether he was a positive or negative figure. He said that Stalin had industrialised the country and led the war effort. He did, however, note that Stalin's achievements came at an "unacceptable price".

Few of the questions were even mildly confrontational, and those that touched on controversywere phrased to allow Mr Putin to answer in long monologues. One questioner asked when Mikhail Khodorkovsky would be freed from prison. The former head of the oil company Yukos has been behind bars since 2003, in a case that most believe was politically motivated. He is currently undergoing a second trial.

Mr Putin insisted that Khodorkovsky was in prison because he had broken the law. "The issue is not who to release and when," he said. "The issue is to make sure that this kind of crime does not happen again."

The yearly phone-in was set up when Mr Putin was President, and he has carried it on in his new role. Mr Medvedev has never followed suit.

*President Medvedev told Pope Benedict yesterday that he was upgrading diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Moscow to the highest level. The Vatican and the former Soviet Union established ties in 1990. The new status means Russia and the Holy See will have full-fledged embassies.

TV highlights: Thoughts of the premier

On the economy:

"With certainty, the peak of the crisis is behind us."

On Stalin:

"We won the Great Patriotic War [WW2]. Whatever people say, victory was achieved. Even if we return to the losses suffered, nobody can throw stones at those who led this victory, because if we had lost the war, the consequences for our nation would have been even more catastrophic."

On the Russian nouveau riche:

"[They] got rich quickly and don't know how to behave... In Soviet times, people tried to put their wealth on show by having gold teeth ... Lamborghinis and other frivolities are exactly the same."

On why he doesn't respond to the criticism from the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko:

"Maybe it's love?"