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Putin will quit after 2008 democratic elections - Kremlin

Moscow. April 17 (Interfax) - First deputy presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has dismissed speculation about President Vladimir Putin's further tenure.

President Putin will definitely quit in about a year, and a new president will step in after democratic elections, Peskov said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel on Tuesday.

Stability largely means inviolability of the constitution, he said, while speaking about the chief argument advanced by advocates of Putin's third term in office - the need to keep the country stable.

This is the president's main idea, he said. The president argued he could not allow any changes in the constitution aimed solely at extending his office by one more term, Peskov said. The country needs stability and transition of authority from the incumbent to the next president will hopefully ensure further stability, the Kremlin spokesman said.

There will not be any presidential successor, he said, adding that the question was not who will succeed, but how the basic course should be continued.

But Peskov cited Putin's statement about his right to comment on the candidacies to the presidential post. The president is an extremely popular politician and he certainly has the right to give recommendations to voters and will use this right, he said.

As any citizen he will listen to election programs and pledges, and will have the right to say who of the candidates, in his opinion, is best fit for the post, Peskov said.