Vladimir Putin, due to step down as Russian president next year,
backs the idea of allowing his successors to serve longer terms in
the Kremlin but insists their stay should not be open-ended.
?
In an interview with reporters from Western media, he repeated he
would remain active after his term in power ends in May 2008, but
declined to say what his role might be.
"Sergei Mironov, the head of our upper house of parliament, used
to say that Russia should perhaps have (the presidential term) of
five or even seven years," Putin said in an interview, script of
which was posted on the presidential website www.kremlin.ru on
Monday.
"I am not speaking now about the length of stay - it could be
five or seven years, but four years is certainly too short a term,"
he told reporters from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized
nations. "But I think the term should still be limited."
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, which holds the majority of
seats in the State Duma (lower house of parliament), said it would
discuss the issue of having longer presidential terms in future
with Putin.
"We will have a meeting in early July, and I believe we will
discuss this initiative in detail," Russian news agencies quoted
Boris Gryzlov, the party's leader and Duma speaker, as telling
journalists Monday.
However, Interfax news agency quoted Mironov as saying that the
final decision on the issue could be held off and a longer term
could be offered to the president elected in 2012.
Seven years of strong economic growth and national revival have
made Putin very popular among Russians. Opponents have criticized
his style of government, which has strongly centralized power, for
lacking effective checks and balances.
Many politicians in Russia and foreign investors have expressed
worries that Putin's departure after serving the two four-year
terms currently allowed by the constitution could destabilize the
country.
Several of Putin's allies, including Mironov, have proposed
amending the constitution to allow him to stay in power for at
least one more term or changing the term of the presidential stay
before he goes to allow him more time.
Putin made clear he was not planning to stay on as president
beyond next year.
Putin's allies have also suggested that after leaving the
Kremlin job to a successor, to be elected next March, Putin would
remain an informal national leader.
Another suggestion made by some analysts was that Putin could
maintain effective leverage by taking over one of Russia's powerful
state corporations like gas monopoly Gazprom.
(China Daily via agencies June 5, 2007)
