Medvedev meets with his supporters in Moscow

Yesterday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who leads the election list of the ruling United Russia party in the parliamentary elections on December 4, met with his supporters in the Moscow ‘Digital October’ High Technology Center, RIA Novosti reports.

Prominent public figures, higher education establishments’ Chancellors, film directors and writers, as well as members of the Presidential administration, participated in the meeting.

In his address to the public, Medvedev pointed out that the decision to propose Putin as a presidential candidate isn’t a return to the past, it's an effective means of solving topical problems, so this decision is thoroughly thought through.

In fact, he said, the decision was hardly casual and came about as the result of a “sufficiently long analysis” in discussions between the two men, weighing, among other things, Mr. Putin’s higher public approval ratings, The New York Times reports.

“You know, people say they met somewhere in the woods, on a fishing trip, and changed everything, worked out this configuration and then came out with it at the convention — it’s not that way at all,” Mr. Medvedev said

“I know that when we announced the decision at the convention of United Russia, a part of my supporters, those people who said change is necessary, felt some disappointment,” he said. “For some reason, a lot of people think that whoever becomes president should hammer everybody around him, destroying those who helped his political career, and life,” Mr. Medvedev said. “I wasn’t raised that way.” He also said that he and Mr Putin shared not only common political goals but personal friendship as well.

Mr. Medvedev suggested his stepping down from the presidency did not signal the end of support for the causes he has championed, such as curbing official corruption and diversifying the economy away from petroleum dependence. Mr. Medvedev promised a government of fresh faces to carry out this agenda.

Adopting a tough tone, he threatened to fire older bureaucrats, in this case those who do not learn to use digital documents.
Mr. Medvedev also told his supporters he had “no right to divest myself of responsibility for anything that is happening in our country.”