Exiting Putin sounds incoming

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin made it plain Thursday that he plans to maintain power when he leaves office, whatever his next job title may be.

During a wide-ranging annual Kremlin appearance before hundreds of Russian and foreign journalists, Putin reiterated his threats to aim missiles at his European neighbors if they accept U.S. missile shield installations. But he also said that, despite hostile rhetoric, Russia and the United States ultimately would cooperate out of necessity.

Banned by the constitution from seeking a third term, Putin has spent months crafting his departure after an eight- year reign. The powerful, popular president is expected to become prime minister in the next government, a job he referred to Thursday as the highest executive power.

Putin has already anointed his handpicked successor, longtime friend and confidant Dmitry Medvedev, who is expected to coast effortlessly through an election early next month. Putin said Thursday that he was worn out from the arduous years in office, and had no qualms about leaving the presidency.

“They say that power is the most addictive thing,” he said. “But I’ve never been addicted to anything.”

However, in recent appearances, Putin has detailed an ambitious agenda that includes military improvements, scientific investment and demographic projects. His plans for Russia extend to 2020, and he continues to talk about foreign policy as though he’ll be the one calling the shots. “I’ll work as long as it takes,” he said Thursday.

Putin’s years in office have been marked by the surge in wealth generated by Russia’s energy resources, newfound stability and restored international clout. Critics point out that his tenure was marred by a crushing war in Chechnya and a rollback of democracy.

But Putin described his reign in glowing terms Thursday, and assured journalists that Medvedev would keep the country moving along the same track.

Medvedev will make a “good, worthy president,” Putin said. “I trust him. Simply said, I trust him.”

Although Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister, is theoretically campaigning for president, there is no serious challenge to his ascendancy. The lawyer and longtime executive with Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas monopoly, has been given lavish coverage in Russian media, and didn’t bother to show up for a debate with other candidates. “We’ve said everything that needs to be said,” Putin explained when asked about the debate.

European election monitors have decided to boycott the balloting March 2, citing lack of cooperation from Moscow. Putin scorned the monitors Thursday, scoffing that Russia doesn’t need European visitors to tell it about voting. If the monitors want to teach something, he said, “let them teach their wives to make borscht.”

Putin’s remarks about the West were a mixed bag of hawkish barbs and conciliatory comments aimed at the United States.

He reiterated Russia’s strong objections to independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo, and criticized the American-proposed antimissile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic as an aggression on Russia’s borders. Washington has said the installations are needed to guard against threats from Iran and North Korea.

“The level of security in Europe will necessarily be reduced and, frankly, I don’t understand why,” Putin said. “We may have some quarrels, but these are resolved in meetings. We’re not aiming missiles at each other. Why worsen the situation?”

The installations would be a threat to Russia, Putin said, and Moscow would have no choice but to “react adequately.”

“What can we do? We have to re-target missiles to targets that threaten our security,” he said. “We do not want such a development.”

This week, similar comments from Putin drew the ire of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who complained of his “reprehensible” rhetoric.

Asked about the Russian bombers that approached a U.S. aircraft carrier in the seas south of Japan last week, Putin replied coldly that the United States conducts military exercises in Alaska, near Russian soil, and that U.S. planes have never stopped patrolling the Russian borders. The Russian military is striving to become more professional, he said, and should be given a wide latitude for practice.

“How can we do that without flights? We must fly.”

But Putin emphatically ruled out a return to Cold War-level hostilities. He stuck up for President Bush’s “sincere” efforts regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and spoke sympathetically of the weighty decisions that hang over the American leader’s head.

In a final show of goodwill, he flouted Russian nationalism by referring to the United States as the more important of the two countries.

Putin sat calmly before the journalists in a marble chamber of the Kremlin, a massive chandelier shining above like a flying saucer about to land. Reporters from far-flung corners of this sprawling country scrawled their hometowns in block letters or waved copies of their newspapers, pleading silently to ask a question.

After the economic chaos and international weakness of post-Soviet Russia, Putin oversaw a country that found a degree of stability and became progressively stronger in its international dealings. For the first time in years, Russia under Putin could afford to aggressively pursue its interests.

But his tenure was also marked by neo-Soviet actions that have raised tensions with the West. Journalists have been mysteriously killed; state control has been extended over independent media; and power has increasingly been centralized.

Some analysts criticize Putin’s government for failing to diversify the economy, and neglecting to spread the wealth down into the lower classes.

But when Putin spoke of his legacy Thursday, none of the doubts figured. Asked what mistakes he’d made in office, he barely hesitated.

“Well, I don’t see any serious failures,” he said. “All the tasks set before us were achieved.”

“I’m not ashamed before my voters,” he said.

“For all those years I was working, breaking my back like a galley slave. I’m satisfied with what I’ve done.”

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megan.stack@latimes.com