Putin to retain influence after 2008 - Kremlin

MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin will retain influence and remain a ''national leader'' after he steps down in 2008, a senior Kremlin official and the leader of the biggest pro-Putin party said today.

Putin, who has said he will step down after two consecutive four-year terms, indicated in his annual state of the nation speech last month that he would retain influence.

''There is the existence of a national leader -- Vladimir Putin now and he will remain,'' Boris Gryzlov, leader of the United Russia party which is personally patronised by Putin, told delegates at a lavish party conference.

Gryzlov presented what he called ''the Putin plan,'' a series of ideas from Putin speeches that party officials said would become the basis of a manifesto in December parliamentary elections.

''To be a leader it is not essential to occupy some concrete post,'' Gryzlov said with an awkward smile when asked by reporters about his remark about a 'national leader'.

Kremlin watchers and investors scan state television for any hint about who could rule Russia in 2008, when the constitution says Putin must step down, though he could return later.

Candidates to take over from Putin include first deputy Prime Ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, Railway Chief Vladimir Yakunin and Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Sobyanin.

Asked what he thought of the comment, Putin's deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov said: ''I think for the masses of people, he will remain a national leader for ever.'' ''THE PUTIN PLAN'' Putin, 54, is hugely popular after presiding over Russia's longest oil-fuelled economic boom since the 1970s and bringing the appearance of stability after the chaos of the 1990s.

In a bow to Soviet-style Communist party galas, Gryzlov handed out prizes to governors of regions where United Russia had done well in elections.

''We need to get a majority in the new Duma,'' Gryzlov said.

''That is our main task in the election campaign and the main condition for the successful fulfilment of the Putin plan, for the continuation of the president's path including after 2007,'' Gryzlov said to applause.

Putin is often asked who will take over, and has said Russians will have a choice and that the continuation of his policies is more important than the leader involved.

''It is premature for me to come out with political last wills and testaments,'' Putin said on April 26.

Sergei Mironov, the pro-Kremlin speaker of parliament's upper house, said last month it was time to change the constitution to allow the president to serve for longer.

Some investors say privately that if Putin stayed on, Russian political and economic stability would be assured for a time. Others fear that if Putin remained influential, Kremlin authority could be eroded.

Reuters NC DB2338