MOSCOW, December 19, 14:34 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin calls provocative a question from Life News, where a correspondent asked whether Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev could be Putin’s successor.
“It is a provocative question you are asking me, right in line with your resource,” Putin said. The president chose not to say anything else on the question and only focused on another question - about the work of the government.
Putin said he considered the government’s work satisfactory.
“The worst thing, which may happen, is a mess with the staff there,” he said. “I believe the government has not exhausted its potential yet.”
He disagreed with the claim all key decisions in Russia came from the president, not from the government or the State Duma.
“You are wrong,” Putin said, adding about his experience of being a prime minister.
“The government is involved in a colossal work,” he said. “Even the prime minister is not aware of everything happening there.”
“This position /the prime minister/ is a nasty one, it means much work, as if you are in a waterfall all the time, everything seems to be falling. It is tough to control all that.”
Putin continued saying some issues cause public discussions and become much spoken about, thus making an impression they are the problems, concerned by the president.
Putin named the recently adopted amnesty as an example of the kind. That was a bill, which the president had presented to the State Duma.
“I suggested the deputies initiated the bill, but they suggestion was I did it,” he told reporters. “That way, it was easier to organize a discussion at the parliament.