Presidential term may be extended 5-7 years in Russia : Putin

Moscow, Jun 4 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin today said he believed the four-year Presidential term may be extended to five-seven years, but the incumbent President should not remain in office for more than two consecutive terms.

''I believe, the limitation by the number of terms is justified,'' Putin said in an interview with journalists from the G-8, adding, however, that four years is too short a time for Russia.

''In modern Russia, five, six or seven years is quite acceptable,'' he said.

''Four years for Russia, probably copying the US practice, was not very debated then when the new constitution was approved,'' the President said.

''Sergei Mironov, the speaker of our Federation Council, once said it would be more appropriate for Russia to have a term of five or even seven years. I am not speaking of the duration now, it could be five or it could be seven years, but four years is a fairly short time,'' Putin said emphatically.

Mironov had proposed in March that the Presidential term should be extended to five- seven years, and that a third term added to enable Putin to run for his third consecutive term.

Putin said he had been acting Prime Minister before becoming President so he knew ''what was going on and what was involved in the decision-making process.'' ''But if, for example, a governor is elected President, it will take him at least two years to understand national and international problems, but by then a new election campaign will have to be launched,'' he pointed out.

Putin also said he intended to work after his term expires in 2008, stressing it was premature to say exactly in what capacity.

''I have certain ideas about this, but it is too soon to talk about it. Even under current Russian law, I am far from pension age, and it would be absurd just to sit at home doing nothing,'' he said.

He said his final decision will depend, among other things, on the political setup in Russia at the end of this year and at the start of next.

Putin said in his annual state of the nation address to the Russian Parliament in April that it was his last term and the next would be delivered by another President.

The prospect of Putin remaining in power for a third presidential term after 2008, has been widely debated in Russia, although he himself has repeatedly denied he will run again.

First Deputy Prime Ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev are front-runners to succeed Putin.

Commenting on Putin's statement, Mironov told Interfax news agency that the extension of the Presidential term and relevant changes to the constitution could be made for the President who will be elected in 2012.

''We should understand that the President elected in 2012 will stay in office for more than four years, as it is provided for in the current constitution. I advocate extending the Presidential term of office to up to seven years,'' he said.

The State Duma (the lower house) speaker Boris Gryzlov said he was ready to discuss the idea of increasing the Presidential term up to five or seven years.

''A meeting of the United Russia faction will take place with the participation of the President in early July, I think the initiative will be discussed in detail,'' Gryzlov said.

UNI