Vladimir Putin, who took over the office of President of Russia on Monday, has introduced Dmitry Medvedev's candidacy for Prime Minister for the approval in the State Duma, the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament Sergei Naryshkin said.
Last autumn at the Congress of "United Russia" - after his nomination for the presidential elections of the ruling party - Putin said that if he won he would nominate Medvedev for the post of prime minister. In the election on March 4 Putin won with 63.60% of the vote.
All the members of the Russian government after Vladimir Putin's presidency are considered to be acting in their posts, the press secretary of the head of government, Dmitry Peskov, told RIA Novosti.
Putin has previously placed the duties of Prime Minister on his former first deputy prime minister, Viktor Zubkov.
Putin, who has headed the Cabinet for the past four years, took over as president on Monday. Under the constitution, the government should resign to the new head of state. Then the president has two weeks to consider, before the lower house of parliament to propose a candidate to head the new government. It is expected that the new government will be headed by Dmitry Medvedev, and a vote on his confirmation in the State Duma will be held on Tuesday, May 8th.
At the last meeting of the government, which he chaired, Putin told ministers that they should continue to work at their stations until a new Cabinet is formed.
