President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday denied that Vladimir Putin's expected return to the Kremlin would throw Russia back to its past but admitted the decision disappointed some of his supporters. Lampooned by liberals as a lame duck who had failed to change Russia in his presidency, Medvedev sought to regain the initiative in a town hall-style meeting with supporters at the trendy Red October complex in central Moscow.
Medvedev is expected to take on the post of prime minister after ceding the Kremlin to Putin in 2012 elections and he insisted the authorities would press ahead with the political and economic change Russia urgently needs. "This arrangement is not a return to the past but a way to solve the tasks that stand before us," Medvedev said, referring to the scheme unveiled last month for Russia's ruling tandem to swap jobs. Medvedev admitted for the first time that a portion of his supporters - who had pinned their hopes on him to modernise Russia - were disappointed by the decision to allow strongman Putin back into the Kremlin.
"I know that some of my supporters - those people who had talked about the necessity of change - felt some kind of disappointment or some slight feeling of tension." But he gave the bluntest of reasons why Putin - who was president from 2000-2008 and has dominated Russia for over a decade - was returning to the Kremlin in March 2012 elections he is almost certain to win.
"My (popularity) rating and the rating of Vladimir Putin are high. But his rating is higher." Medvedev acknowledged he owed his political career to Putin and said he was not going to "hack down" those who had helped him in his life. "I'm not brought up that way," he said.
Some observers detected splits earlier this year between the president and Putin on modernisation but the Medvedev made clear "we are not competitors but close comrades, friends." Liberal economists and analysts have expressed fear of a return to Soviet-style practices under Putin, who showed little appetite for reform in most of his presidency and drastically curtailed civil liberties.
Despite Medvedev's pledges to create a more diverse society in Russia, the meeting was largely marked by softball questions and expressions of admiration thrown by prominent businessman and other figures known to support him. Rustam Adagamov, who under the name Drugoi (Other) is one of Russia's best known bloggers, told Moscow Echo radio that he had turned down an invitation to attend after discovering the event was dominated by supporters of ruling party United Russia.