Analyst: Putin to be president again soon

MOSCOW, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin could be back as president soon as the country grapples with the global financial crisis, a political scientist says.

A constitutional change to lengthen the terms of both the Russian presidency and the prime minister's post is already working its way through the country's legislative approval process, and that could be used as a pretext to call new elections to restore Putin to the presidency, Lilia Shevtsova told the German newspaper Die Welt.

Shevtsova, a Kremlin critic, says current President Dmitry Medvedev is already answering to the former president, and asserts that Russian leaders believe Putin must be restored to his old post for the nation to be able to deal with the financial crisis, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

Medvedev proposed extending the current four-year parliamentary and presidential terms to five and six years, respectively, on Nov. 5, and Russia's upper house of parliament approved the constitutional amendments Nov. 26. They next have to be passed by at least two-thirds of Russia's regional legislatures, after which Parliament would hold another session to endorse their decision, the news service said.