MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Russia's President Vladimir Putin has formally launched his re-election campaign with a speech to supporters at Moscow State University.
Putin's speech featured the usual recitation of accomplishments but also featured an unexpected promise to pick his successor, the Moscow Times reported Friday.
Seeking to blunt criticism that he has appropriated state-owned media to advance his public standing, he said "civilized political competition is absolutely necessary."
The speech was broadcast Thursday on state-owned media.
Analysts expressed surprise that Putin, who himself was picked by President Boris Yeltsin as his successor in 1999, spoke so directly about that matter.
"Now it's official," said Andrei Piontkovsky, an independent political analyst. "They'll come up with an heir as a PR product to be sold to the people on television. He'll give us the same gift as (Boris) Yeltsin did."
Yeltsin picked Putin as his successor.
