HE LEFT, BUT PROMISED TO BE BACK…

This issue was ready for print when Russian President Vladimir Putin began his last press conference for the Russian and foreign media in his current capacity. It was Putin's seventh "big press conference," at which he summarized, so to speak, the results of his 8 years in power. Perhaps this was why the event broke so many records. The seventh "big press conference" of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, broke earlier records for both duration -- 4 hours and 40 minutes -- and the number of accredited journalists -- 1,364 persons. To compare, last year's traditional conference lasted 3 hours and 32 minutes and was attended by 1,232 journalists.

Vladimir Putin said that he was pleased with the results of his work in the presidential post and, incidentally, had good reasons for saying so. True, he was accused of nipping the young Russian democracy in the bud, but he at least rehabilitated the Russian economy and the country's position in the international arena.

Putin described the responsibility which the president has to shoulder as a grave one. "You have to make decisions which no one but you can make," he said and went on to express his compassion for his American opposite number. "Do you think it is easy for Bush?" the Russian president asked rhetorically. Nor did Putin forget the rest of his Western partners, who are going through tough times now. In particular, in discussing the incident involving observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Russian president reiterated that he would not allow anyone to impose on his country any unacceptable limitations or conditions. He noted that the organization, whose acronym, ODIHR, sounds so harsh to the Russian ear, had no right to demand anything from Russia. "It is their choice. They can go teach their wives how to cook," Putin said.

But Putin did not stop at this advice to the West. The Russian president also recommended against encouraging separatism and rushing to recognize Kosovo's independence at the expense of Serbia's territorial integrity. In the process, Putin again reminded everyone of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, adding to them the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which has been awaiting recognition for more than 40 years. "Europeans, are you not ashamed of applying double standards in this way?  They say that Kosovo is a unique case. It is a lie, there is nothing unique about it," Putin said.

As for the military disputes between Russia and the West, the further we go, the scarier it gets. The Russian president repeated his recent statement that Russia will be forced to aim its missiles at anti-missile defence facilities in the USA if American missiles are deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic and if Ukraine joins NATO. Incidentally, this statement by Putin has already raised concerns in the West. "We do not like that language very much, it is unacceptable for relations between Russia and NATO," a source within the alliance told RIA Novosti. In the mean time, the process of regulating the natural gas controversy between Moscow and Kiev seems much more promising now. After his meeting with his Ukrainian opposite number, Viktor Yushchenko, Vladimir Putin is more optimistic about finding a solution to this problem.

Overall, the outgoing Russian president believes that all the goals he set himself have been achieved and all tasks have been accomplished. However, one task does remain. Answering a question about which problem the President had faced and which had irritated him most because it would not yield itself to solution, Putin replied right away, without a second thought: "Corruption!" He intends to busy himself in dealing with this problem as a priority if he becomes Prime Minister in a President Medvedev administration.

It seems that the incumbent president wants to personally see the projects he started through to a "happy end," without amending the Constitution and without running for a third term. Nor does Vladimir Vladimirovich disguise the fact that he intends to share power with Medvedev if Medvedev is elected President and he is appointed Prime Minister.

At the same time Putin trusts Dmitriy Medvedev and is certain that he will be a good president. In the opinion of the head of the Russian state, there are "two important factors" which should feature in the personality profile of any Russian president. According to Putin, these are the ability to formulate the objective and not to "drivel and snivel." And judging by his statements, Medvedev is no less tough than even Putin himself. Here is an example: "Our partners should not think that it (natural gas - editor) is a 'freebee' which comes from nice plastic pipes and which can be burnt regardless of how much it costs," Medvedev said during a meeting with the personnel of the Volokolamskaya gas pumping station.

A number of examples of this sort could be cited. But much as Putin might like him, the incumbent president is not going to hang a portrait of his successor on the wall of his office if he is appointed Prime Minister. "If I become the head of Government, my case is going to be unique in a sense because I myself was President for eight years and, overall, did my job pretty well. If Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev is elected President, I will not need his portrait in my office to establish normal relations with him," the head of the Russian state, who thus reasserted his right to be "leader," noted during his press conference.