Russia's FM slams Putin, Medvedev power-swap deal

Foreign investors were alarmed by Kudrin’s statement  after Putin announced he will run for president next March in an election that could extend his rule until 2024.

Kudrin, a Putin ally, has prime ministerial ambitions and said he had “disagreements” with Medvedev who may now struggle to establish his credibility as premier after being forced by Putin to renounce his dream of a second term as president.

“I do not see myself in a new government,” Kudrin, 50, said in comments released in Washington, where he was meeting global policymakers. The point is not that nobody has offered me the job; I think that the disagreements I have (with Medvedev) will not allow me to join this government.”

Kudrin won the respect of investors as a guardian of financial stability by saving windfall oil revenues for a rainy-day fund which helped Russia through the 2008 global economic crisis.
Reuters