Dmitry Medvedev will be a very weak prime minister when he swaps jobs to allow Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin after a presidential election in March, former Mayor Yury Luzhkov said.
Luzhkov, who Medvedev fired last year, also said United Russia, which Medvedev is leading into the Dec. 4 State Duma elections, would lose significant support.
Luzhkov, speaking in an interview with Radio Free Europe's Russian service late last week, sidestepped a question on whether Putin would still make Medvedev prime minister irrespective of how United Russia fared in the Duma elections, appearing to suggest that Putin's authority might ensure that Medvedev would become prime minister.
(Reuters)
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