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Medvedev vows to work together with Putin if elected president
RIA-Novosti

Nizhniy Novgorod, 27 February: Russian presidential candidate (First Deputy Prime Minister) Dmitriy Medvedev believes that if he is entrusted with running the country, he will do good for the country together with Vladimir Putin, who has agreed to head the government in the event of Medvedev's victory in the (2 March presidential) election.

"I understand perfectly well how essential it is for the country to maintain stability and continuity", Medvedev said at a meeting with voters. "We are so fed up with revolutions and declining standards of life that we want to take a breathing break", he noted.

The presidential candidate thinks that Russia needs decades of stable development. As and example, he quoted Europe, which "got a decades-long breathing break after the (Second World) War". "They have not been waging wars, rearranging their countries or re-dividing property, they have been simply developing. We need a similar period too," Medvedev said.

"If I am entrusted with running the state, I vow to continue the course which has proved its effectiveness, the course set by President Putin," the presidential candidate said.

"If we continue to work as a team, the two of us, we will be able to do good to the state," Medvedev noted.

He admitted that there were "very many problems" in Russia. "But we should preserve the basic principles laid down in the last eight years", he said.

Another participant of the meeting, Moscow Duma member Yevgeniy Gerasimov, asked Medvedev how he and Putin were going to coordinate their work. Replying to the question, Medvedev admitted that he was pleased to hear Putin's assessment of him, but, on the other hand, it also set a higher standard of responsibility.

"I have always felt really comfortable working with the president. We worked together very well back when we held similar posts in the Lensovet (Leningrad Soviet) in the early 1990s. Ever since, our cooperation has been very friendly and productive", he noted.

"I am sure that if we achieve the goal set in this election campaign, we will work together on programmes that are so important for our country. We will work to fulfil the state obligations undertaken by our country led by President Putin", Medvedev said.

He thinks that this continuity is a guarantee of the fulfilment of these obligations.

"For me, this is a great honour as well as a personal challenge", the presidential candidate admitted.

(Vesti TV news channel, Moscow, in Russian 1439 gmt 27 Feb 08 showed Medvedev saying: "We need decades of stable development. If I am entrusted with running the state, I will be simply obligated to continue the course which has proved its effectiveness over the last eight years, the course set by President Putin. If we continue to work as a team, the two of us, this should do some good for our state. The main thing is that everything positive that has been accumulated over the past few years will be preserved. I think that this continuity is a certain guarantee of the fulfilment of these obligations. Therefore, this is a great honour as well as a personal challenge for me. If we are able to implement all these programmes, I think it will be very good")