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Russia's Putin Won't Seek Third Term: msg#00013
culture.discuss.cia-drugs
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Russia's Putin Won't Seek Third Term |
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/31/D8DJ6ARG0.html
Russia's Putin Won't Seek Third Term
Oct 31 1:41 PM US/Eastern
By STEVE GUTTERMAN
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW
President Vladimir Putin said Monday he won't seek a third term in but
vowed not to allow "destabilization" in Russia following the vote,
leaving the door open for drastic action in the event of a crisis.
In an interview with Dutch media on the eve of a visit to the
Netherlands, Putin reiterated that he opposes changing the constitution
to prolong his time in power _ a possibility that has been widely
discussed because his popularity and control over parliament.
But Putin said that the 2008 presidential election will be a "serious,
difficult test for Russia" and stressed that full power and
responsibility for the fate of the country will remain in his hands
until the new president is sworn in.
"I will not allow any destabilization in Russia, in the interests of
the ... peoples of the Russian Federation," Putin said in the interview
with Dutch broadcaster Netwerk and financial newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
He did not elaborate, but the statement raised the possibility that
Putin could take unpredictable measures in the name of stability in the
event of unrest or a political crisis in the weeks between the election
and the new president's inauguration.
He suggested such actions probably would not be necessary, saying that
he believes "the political forces in Russia are mature enough to
understand their responsibility to the people," and said the election
would be a fair one in which the candidate with the most votes will win.
"At the same time, I want to draw your attention to the fact that
according to the constitution, authority is handed over to the new
president after he takes the oath of office, and until then the current
president holds full responsibility for the situation in the country,"
he said.
Russia's experience with power transfers purely by election is limited:
Putin was made acting president by Boris Yeltsin before he was first
elected in 2000, and Yeltsin became president when Russia was still
part of the Soviet Union.
With the Kremlin seeking increasingly tight control over politics and
society and nervously eyeing other ex-Soviet republics where longtime
leaders have been ousted recently, tension is palpable more than two
years before the March 2008 election.
Putin has repeatedly said he opposes changing the constitution to
remain in power _ without strictly ruing it out _ and has also hinted
vaguely of a continuing role for himself and said he will try to groom
a successor.
"Of course, I am not indifferent about whose hands the country that I
have dedicated my whole life to ends up in," Putin said. "But if every
new head of state who comes to power changes the constitution as he
sees fit, soon there will be nothing left of this state."
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