Putin backs Medvedev as presidential candidate

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday backed First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as presidential candidate to replace him after he leaves office next year, Russian media reported.
"I fully support this candidacy," Putin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency after four parties, headed by the ruling United Russia, named Medvedev.
"As far as the candidacy of (Medvedev) is concerned, I have known him for more than 17 years, I have worked with him closely all these years, and I completely and fully support this candidacy," Putin said in video footage shown on state television. Putin is to step down after the March 2 presidential elections after serving two consecutive terms. Whichever candidate Putin endorses is widely expected to be almost assured of replacing him in the Kremlin.
Medvedev, 42, is a Kremlin insider seen as a staunch Putin loyalist.
A lawyer by training, Medvedev owes his rise within Russia's power elite to Putin, who hired him in the early 1990s to work on his staff at the Saint Petersburg local government.