Putin Offered Key Role in Likely Successor’s Government

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• JIM LEHRER:

  And finally tonight, politics in Moscow, and to Margaret Warner.

• MARGARET WARNER:

  Russian President Vladimir Putin will be leaving office next March, but he may not be going far. Yesterday, Putin publicly endorsed First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to be his successor. Today, Medvedev said if he wins the March election he would appoint Putin as prime minister.

• DMITRY MEDVEDEV, First Deputy Prime Minister, Russia:

  I think it is crucial for our country to keep Vladimir Putin in the most important role in the executive branch, that of prime minister.

• MARGARET WARNER:

  That means Putin would retain significant power in the Russian government. That's especially true, since the pro-Putin United Russia Party swept the elections for the Duma, or legislature, 10 days ago. It captured 315 of the 450 seats.

  Putin said yesterday that Medvedev's election would ensure stability.

  VLADIMIR PUTIN, President of Russia (through translator): We have the chance to form a stable government after the elections in March 2008, and not just a stable government, but one that will carry out the course that has brought results for all of the past eight years.

• MARGARET WARNER:

  The 42-two-year-old Medvedev is a native of St. Petersburg. As first deputy prime minister, he doled out social spending from Russia's enormous windfall profits from its oil and gas businesses. He has represented Russia at international economic forums, but unlike Putin has no background in the security services. He's also never held elective office.

  Since 2002, Medvedev has been chairman of the board of the state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom. Russia has the largest proven reserves of natural gas on Earth, and Gazprom is the world's largest supplier. It has used that power to raise prices and even choke off supplies to former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, in political disputes with Moscow.

  Russia's presidential election is scheduled for early next March. The constitution bars Putin from seeking a third consecutive term.

  So what does this political maneuver on Vladimir Putin's part mean for Russia and for Putin's continuing power there? For that, we turn to a former Moscow correspondent who interviewed President Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, last spring.

  Paul Starobin is a contributing editor for the Atlantic Monthly and staff correspondent for the National Journal. He was Moscow bureau chief for BusinessWeek magazine from 1999 to 2003.

  And, Paul, welcome.

• PAUL STAROBIN, The Atlantic Monthly:

  Thanks, Margaret.