Putin: Will consider running for president in 2012

MOSCOW — In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency — one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia's top office in 2012.

Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during a question-and-answer show on television and radio that highlighted his dominance of Russia's political scene.

"I will think about it, there is still enough time," Putin said when asked whether he will run in the next election.

"Don't hold your breath," Putin told another person who asked whether he was planning to leave politics.

Putin added he wants to focus now on his job as premier and make sometimes unpopular decisions without having to take electoral considerations into account.

Putin had to shift into the premier's seat in 2008 following two consecutive terms in office, but since then the presidential term has been extended to six years and Putin is eligible to run again in 2012.

Some 2 million questions were submitted by telephone or on the Internet to Putin's marathon television show, which was similar to previous call-ins he did when he was president. It clearly demonstrated that he continued to call the shots, overshadowing his designated successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Analysts said no one could miss Putin's desire to reclaim the presidency.

"While he coyly said it's too early for a decision, it certainly looked like he has already decided" to return to the presidency in 2012, said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office.

"He's too much of a professional to unveil his actual plans in such a format. But he did not reject the idea of returning to the presidency, and — unlike in previous comments — he made no mention of Medvedev," Petrov told The Associated Press.

Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies the Russian political elite, said Putin had decided to run again even before he stepped down.

"I think it was decided in 2007, when strategy was being planned," she told the AP. "I think it was decided that Putin should not seek a third consecutive term, but that after four years he could return to the presidency."

The bookish Medvedev, who has never made a similar TV appearance since his March 2008 election, was in Italy on Thursday to meet with the Italian leaders and the pope.