Putin Hints At New Role After He Steps Down
MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin told the nation yesterday that he was against changing the constitution to extend his rule, but he dropped a vague hint about a mysterious new role he might assume after stepping down.

The remarks, in a televised question-and-answer session with the public, were likely to fuel speculation that the Kremlin was mulling ways for Putin to remain at the helm after his second and final terms ends in 2008. Some saw his statement as an attempt to assuage concerns among his inner circle about succession.

''I see my task as not sitting in the Kremlin eternally so that the same face will be shown on TV. . . . I see my task as creating conditions for the country's long-term development, so that young and literate managers come to govern the country," Putin said with a thin smile in response to a question on whether he could run for a third term.

''I don't consider it appropriate to introduce any changes in the constitution," he said, adding what could be interpreted as a hint that he wasn't going to leave the political scene altogether. ''As they say in the military, 'I'll find my place in the ranks' " after 2008.

He flatly refused to elaborate when reporters later prodded him to explain what he meant. ''Let's preserve the intrigue," Putin said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Speculation has been rife that the Kremlin is searching for ways to keep Putin, who still enjoys a 70 percent approval rating, in place after his second term ends.

He is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, but some analysts theorized that he could become a prime minister more powerful than a president, or head a new state that could be formed in a prospective merger of Russia and Belarus.

''Putin has no intention of quitting the political scene," said Yevgeny Volk, the head of the Heritage Foundation's Moscow office. ''He will stay on in one form or another."

Lliliya Shevtsova of the Carnegie Endowment said that Putin was pragmatic enough not to seek an extension of his rule and had made the comments to calm his inner circle.

''To avoid becoming a lame duck, he has to maintain control over succession," she said. ''He has to offer something to the hyenas around him: 'Don't worry you guys, I will stay somewhere around, in the ranks.' "

Putin made his comments during what has become an annual ritual: a live, televised question-and-answer session moderated by anchors of two Kremlin-controlled channels.

People were urged to pose their questions by Internet, telephone, text message, or video linkup with selected audiences in 12 towns across Russia.

The Ekho Moskvy radio station commented that ''no uncomfortable questions will be posed to Vladimir Putin -- since all the questions are prepared by special services and handed out to carefully chosen representatives of the people."

The point was underlined in the Arctic city of Vorkuta, when a human rights activist and her husband were prevented from joining the invitation-only group allowed to address questions to the government.

Yevgeniya Khaidarova, the cochairman of the Memorial rights group in Vorkuta, tried to walk past security checkpoints with her husband, but security guards pushed him and he fell. When Khaidarova rushed to his aid, she was grabbed so hard that the ligaments in her shoulder ruptured, said Tatyana Savinova of Memorial's Moscow office.

The first question, posed by one of the anchors in the nearly three-hour session, focused on Russia's economic performance -- giving Putin an opening to showcase the steady growth in wages and pensions.

His comments reflected the Kremlin's new emphasis on social programs, unveiled in a speech to lawmakers this month, which some analysts see as an attempt to head off any revolutionary mood among Russians in advance of the 2008 presidential elections.

Putin denied allegations that the pro-Kremlin United Russia party monopolized political life, choked off opposition and threatened a return to Soviet-style single-party rule.