Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday ruled out competing against his hand-picked Kremlin successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, in Russia's 2012 presidential elections.
Putin said he and Medvedev would work together when the time comes in deciding how to go into the country's next presidential election.
"We'll come to an agreement because we are people of the same blood and of the same political views," Putin told an annual meeting of international experts on Russia known as the Valdai Discussion Club. "According to the reality of the moment, we'll make an analysis and take a decision.
"Did we compete in 2008? No. So we won't compete in 2012," Putin said.
Putin, who was forbidden by the constitution from running for a third consecutive term, stepped down in 2008, blessing his protege Medvedev for the presidency. Medvedev's term expires in 2012 and both men could then run for the presidency with a new, longer six-year presidential term approved by parliament earlier this year.
Analysts say Putin and Medvedev would have to come to an agreement as to who will run, based on the country's economic performance after the current crisis that is expected to take a toll on both men's ratings.
When asked who was in charge, Putin, who's still widely seen as Russia's true leader, reiterated it was Medvedev who ultimately called the shots.
"We have nothing to prove to anyone," he said. "If someone lives in a dream, he needs to wake up, take a shower and look at reality. If you want to cooperate with Russia you need to know that it's the president who heads Russia."