By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said onThursday he intended to become a powerful and long-servingprime minister after leaving the Kremlin but rejectedsuggestions he would dictate orders to his likely successor.
Putin, giving his last annual news conference before hissecond term ends in May, said he fully trusted the Kremlin'scandidate for president, First Deputy Prime Minister DmitryMedvedev, and would have no problems working with him.
Medvedev enjoys blanket coverage on state-controlled mediaand is widely expected to win a big poll victory next month.
"Dmitry Anatolyevich (Medvedev) and I have worked togetherfor 15 years and I would never have deigned to support acandidate for president if he needed coddling and advice on howto behave," Putin told hundreds of reporters at the Kremlin ina marathon event lasting a record 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Political analysts have questioned how Medvedev wouldoccupy Russia's all-powerful presidency and work effectivelywith his former boss as a subordinate.
Putin will become prime minister because his United Russiaparty won a huge parliamentary majority in elections onDecember 2 and controls the lower house of parliament.
Russia's constitution assigns the prime minister a largelyeconomic role, with all key security and power ministriesreporting directly to the president.
Putin, 55, said he and Medvedev would "divide ourresponsibilities and I can assure you that there will be noproblem here".
"The highest executive power in the country is thegovernment of the Russian Federation headed by the PrimeMinister," he added.
Asked how long he would be premier, Putin said the post"cannot be transitional. As long as Medvedev was in the Kremlinand Putin was achieving his goals, "I would work as long aspossible".
Putin also addressed for the first time Western newsreports that he had amassed a huge personal fortune while inpower, dismissing the claims as "rubbish".
Using typically colourful language, he said the reportswere "just excavated from someone's nose and then spread onthose bits of paper".
On foreign policy, the Kremlin leader repeated warningsthat Moscow would target Russian missiles at NATO countrieswhich hosted parts of a planned U.S. missile defence shield andwould strongly oppose independence for the Serb province ofKosovo.
But overall, he struck a less aggressive tone than before,saying Moscow was more interested in dealing with social andeconomic problems at home than in pursuing a new Cold War armsrace.
"To suppose that we aspire to return to the times of theCold War is just too bold a supposition," Putin said.
Russia was willing to work "towards the construction of apositive dialogue" with whoever won the U.S. presidentialelection and did not intend to target any country with itsnuclear missiles except in "extreme necessity", he said.
ECONOMIC BOOM
Speaking on a raised platform in front of a backgrounddecorated with Russia's national colours and flanked eitherside by two giant television screens, Putin began the newsconference by reeling off statistics on Russia's economic boom,which has lasted throughout his eight years in the presidency.
Real incomes, pensions and living standards had all risendramatically, he said, though close attention needed to be paidto inflation, now running at around 12 percent a year.
"I do not see any serious failures," Putin told aquestioner. "All the tasks we set ourselves have beenachieved".
Officials said that a record 1,364 journalists wereaccredited for the news conference, which was carried live onstate television across Russia.
At four hours and 40 minutes, Thursday's news conferenceeasily beat last year's three hours 32 minutes. Russian newsagencies said Putin this year fielded 100 questions.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
