AFP
Sunday, December 24, 2006

President Vladimir Putin will retain a leadership role in Russia even if he steps down in 2008, as required by the constitution, a senior politician has said.
"He will not leave," Sergei Stepashin, head of Russia's accounting chamber, was quoted as saying in the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily Saturday. "I think he will find the kind of formula in which he would step down, but stay on."

Stepashin, a former prime minister, secret services chief and KGB veteran, suggested that Putin's post-Kremlin future could be modelled loosely on that of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who in the 1990s was widely considered to retain backroom power despite his retirement.

Asked what sort of options Putin might consider, Stepashin answered: "Lots. Party leader, head of parliament, government, a new state council."

Putin has repeatedly vowed to respect the constitution and leave office at the end of his second four-year term in 2008. However, he has also said that he hopes to retain influence.

According to Stepashin, Putin's departure would be a blow. "He is right and not right. There is a dilemma. From the political view, he should stay. Not only because the work is all going well. Any new leader brings a new team. At a minimum, this causes a break in momentum."

Putin, another KGB veteran whom critics accuse of rolling back democracy and crushing independent media, became president in 2000. Polls show that he is hugely popular in Russia.