Posted on 09/10/2006 6:50:47 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Russia's President Vladimir Putin prepares to depart on an airplane after meeting Morocco's King Mohammed VI at the King's palace in Casablanca September 7, 2006. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to step down in 2008 and said he would recommend his successor fight poverty and ensure strong economic growth, said experts who attended a lunch with the president.
Putin spoke for nearly four hours to a group of about 50 foreign experts over lunch at his Novo-Ogaryovo residency outside Moscow, according to people who attended the meeting.
"The most interesting point was that he reiterated that he does not plan to run again for office in 2008 as he believes he has a moral duty not to break the constitution," said Angela Stent, director of the center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
A Kremlin spokesman confirmed the meeting but said he could not immediately give comments.
Putin, 53, declined to give any details about who could succeed him in 2008, when he must step down after two four-year terms in office. Because the Kremlin has so much power, the issue of his successor is the hottest political topic in Russia.
During the lunch of artichoke soup, octopus carpaccio and sea bass, Putin did not say what he would do after he stepped down but at one point even expressed weariness with politics and said he had not been successful in rooting out corruption.
"He spoke about things he would recommend his successor do," said Nikolai Zlobin, director of the Russian and Eurasian project at the World Security Institute in Washington.
The recommendations would include the struggle with poverty, the creation of a real multi-party system, regional reforms, the diversification of the economy and high levels of growth, said Zlobin, who sat next to Putin at the lunch.
Answering dozens of questions, Putin ranged across foreign and domestic policy, speaking out against sanctions on Iran, implicitly opposing independence for Kosovo and heaping praise on Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko.
He said it was his job to improve relations with the United States, which have cooled because of differences over gas supplies to Europe, accession to the World Trade Organization and competition for allies among ex-Soviet nations.
"My impression was that he was doing his best to improve relations with his international counterparts," said Marshall Goldman, professor of economics at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.
"He tried very hard to make positive comments about President (George W.) Bush and he did not have to make such positive comments."
But he criticized Bush's "bad advisors" and said the European Union "was very difficult to deal with", although the Kremlin wanted a closer partnership with it, people at the meeting said. He also praised Russia's relationship with China.
Putin will step down so that he can plan his coup, in fine Russian tradition.
I'll believe it when I see it ...
My thoughts exactly!
LLS
Yeah...me too
Exactly what I was going to say.
It would be wise to trust Putin about as far as one could throw a main battle tank.
Overall, this is a strange story. The most specific info provided is the luncheon cuisine.
He will be replaced by the international leader of the Russian Mafia................
Reminds me of gubner Slick's diatribe at the '88 DNC when we got the gift of Dukakis.
The real question is if Blair will step down. He is the prime minister since 1997 and he likes his position very much!
You misunderstand..... He has eliminated the bad guys who stole the Russian industrial base. Those who hold the reins, especially of the oil business will take care of him.
He had to make a hard choice.... take some backward steps and wrest away control of those who essentially stole the democraization or watch mother Russia wither and die of the cancer. He chose to exterminate the vermin and restore some degree of real freedom for bsuiness. He has one good industry....the arms industry. He made an effort to go with his strength by selling arms. He also allowed major change in the oil business, to insure growth rather than short term looting.
He is not all bad. He might not have suceeded, only time will tell.
But you miss the most important point. He is ABIDING BY that Constitutional requirement, rather than trying to side-step it by having the Constitution by-passed, re-written, or simply ignoring it.
Does the Russian Parliament have any power at all?
French, Russian and Chinese oil companies should be barred from doing any business in Iraq.
Yup! ....his "successor" should make a fine sock-puppet.
Putin will step down so some hardliner communist (Ivanov) can come to power and Russia can point at it and say it was "Democratic"
Yup.
Yea, right, I'll believe it when it happens.
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