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Russia's Medvedev refuses to be drawn on 2012 election | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Dmitry Medvedev, addressing his first full press conference as Russian president, has refused to be drawn on whether he will seek re-election. | |
He suggested that a news conference was not the right setting for making an announcement of such importance. | |
Mr Medvedev's predecessor and mentor, Vladimir Putin, is eligible to stand again as president in 2012, after two previous terms in the Kremlin. | |
Speculation has grown about differences between the two men. | |
Mr Medvedev began his news conference by speaking on the need for Russia to modernise - a theme familiar from his speeches. | |
Symbolic venue | |
Mr Medvedev has taken part in press briefings before, but has never held a full-scale question-and-answer session with the press in the manner of Mr Putin, who is currently prime minister. | |
He has spent most of his years in office in the shadow of Mr Putin, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford. | |
Many have expected him to step aside in favour of his mentor, Mr Putin, at the election next year. | |
But it is now unclear whether the president and prime minister will run head to head in the 2012 elections. | |
Suggestions of a power struggle have been fuelled by recent public disputes between the two men - most notably over Libya, our correspondent says. | Suggestions of a power struggle have been fuelled by recent public disputes between the two men - most notably over Libya, our correspondent says. |
"Medvedev will try to show he is not simply a 'yes man' but that he is almost an equal to Putin," one unnamed trader working at a Western investment bank in Moscow told the Reuters news agency. | "Medvedev will try to show he is not simply a 'yes man' but that he is almost an equal to Putin," one unnamed trader working at a Western investment bank in Moscow told the Reuters news agency. |
The Skolkovo School of Management, where the conference will be held, is described as a key institute in Mr Medvedev's plans to modernise Russia. | The Skolkovo School of Management, where the conference will be held, is described as a key institute in Mr Medvedev's plans to modernise Russia. |
Russian presidential terms are now six years, and remaining in power for two consecutive terms is allowed. | Russian presidential terms are now six years, and remaining in power for two consecutive terms is allowed. |