Putin compares himself to Roosevelt

MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is drawing parallels between the leader and World War II-era U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Putin drew parallels between his plans for Russia's future and Roosevelt's New Deal during a televised question-and-answer session Thursday, The Washington Post reported Friday.

"Roosevelt laid out his plan for the country's development for decades in advance" and that often did battle with the elite class, Putin said, when asked about his vision for Russia's future.

"At the end of the day, it turned out that the implementation of that plan benefited ordinary citizens and the elites and eventually brought the United States to the position it is in today," Putin said.

Putin's statements follow numerous documentaries and newspaper editorials about the 32nd U.S. president that made reference to similarities between the two leaders.

Putin, who is barred by the constitution from seeking a third term as president, has hinted that he may seek a position as prime minister when his term runs out.

"In 1939, Americans were facing exactly the same problem as we are now -- the third term," Anatoly Utkin of the Institute of U.S.A. and Canada Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a recent documentary on state-run TV station RTR.