Vladimir Putin, due to step down as Russian president next year, backs the idea of allowing his successors to serve longer terms in the Kremlin but insists their stay should not be open-ended.
 
In an interview with reporters from Western media, he repeated he would remain active after his term in power ends in May 2008, but declined to say what his role might be.

"Sergei Mironov, the head of our upper house of parliament, used to say that Russia should perhaps have (the presidential term) of five or even seven years," Putin said in an interview, script of which was posted on the presidential website www.kremlin.ru on Monday.

"I am not speaking now about the length of stay - it could be five or seven years, but four years is certainly too short a term," he told reporters from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations. "But I think the term should still be limited."

The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, which holds the majority of seats in the State Duma (lower house of parliament), said it would discuss the issue of having longer presidential terms in future with Putin.

"We will have a meeting in early July, and I believe we will discuss this initiative in detail," Russian news agencies quoted Boris Gryzlov, the party's leader and Duma speaker, as telling journalists Monday.

However, Interfax news agency quoted Mironov as saying that the final decision on the issue could be held off and a longer term could be offered to the president elected in 2012.

Seven years of strong economic growth and national revival have made Putin very popular among Russians. Opponents have criticized his style of government, which has strongly centralized power, for lacking effective checks and balances.

Many politicians in Russia and foreign investors have expressed worries that Putin's departure after serving the two four-year terms currently allowed by the constitution could destabilize the country.

Several of Putin's allies, including Mironov, have proposed amending the constitution to allow him to stay in power for at least one more term or changing the term of the presidential stay before he goes to allow him more time.

Putin made clear he was not planning to stay on as president beyond next year.

Putin's allies have also suggested that after leaving the Kremlin job to a successor, to be elected next March, Putin would remain an informal national leader.

Another suggestion made by some analysts was that Putin could maintain effective leverage by taking over one of Russia's powerful state corporations like gas monopoly Gazprom.

(China Daily via agencies June 5, 2007)