By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's biggest party created a newrole of chairman on Monday and said it would ask PresidentVladimir Putin to take the job, a possible final clue to theriddle of who will really run Russia after he steps down.
Putin has said he will serve as prime minister once hisprotege, Dmitry Medvedev, is sworn in as president on May 7.But for many investors the critical questions of how much powerPutin will wield and for how long remain unanswered.
The United Russia party had said it would invite Putin tobe leader, but on Monday at its conference, it said it wascreating the new post of party chairman and would offer it toPutin. The chairman's job would free Putin from day-to-daymanagement duties.
If Putin does accept the invitation to be chairman it wouldsignificantly entrench his power and indicate, some analystssay, that he is planning to use that position to preserve hislong-term influence.
There is a precedent for leadership of a party, rather thanany state position, providing the lever of power in Russia. Formuch of the 20th century, the leader of the Soviet Communistparty held sway over state institutions.
Turning down the job could suggest that Putin, after atrial period to make sure 42-year-old Medvedev settles into theKremlin job, is planning to take a back seat.
The Kremlin has given no indications about whether Putinwill take a role in the party's leadership. Putin is expectedto attend the second day of the conference on Tuesday.
"We are now talking about a concrete post which we intendto offer to Vladimir Putin, the post of chairman of the party,"United Russia chief Boris Gryzlov told reporters on the firstday of the party conference on Monday.
Delegates voted unanimously to create the post of chairman,which Gryzlov said would make Putin the leader of the party.
Lawmakers said the party chairmanship would be anon-executive role that would give Putin overall strategiccontrol of the party.
Putin used a United Russia conference last year to announcehe could serve as premier once his presidency, limited by theconstitution to two consecutive terms, came to an end.
Putin, 55, is the country's most popular politician afterpresiding over Russia's longest economic boom for a generationand cementing Kremlin control after the chaos of the 1990s. Hiscritics, a minority in Russia, accuse him of crushingdemocracy.
Investors want to know what Putin's final role will beafter he steps down because they see political stability as keyto Russia's booming $1.3 trillion (655 billion pounds) economy.
RIDDLE NOT SOLVED
Kremlin-watchers believe the riddle of what Putin will donext is still not fully solved because the post of primeminister is an awkward one for someone so powerful.
The prime minister is junior to the president, can besacked at the president's whim and often carries the can forpolicy failures. Putin filled the post with a series oflow-level technocrats all seen as expendable.
Some analysts see a leadership role in United Russia as away for Putin to preserve long-term influence by moulding theparty, closely tied to the Kremlin since its creation, into apowerful political force in its own right.
The president can sack the prime minister but he has toseek the approval of parliament -- controlled by United Russia-- to appoint a new premier. The party has the two thirdsmajority in parliament required to amend the constitution.
Putin helped found the party, which was designed in thelast days of former President Boris Yeltsin's rule to ensurethe Kremlin's control of parliament.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)