Medvedev rules out confrontation with Putin

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday there would never be any disputes between him and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Speaking with the heads of three Russian state-run TV channels, Medvedev said that some political experts and opposition figures frequently anticipated open confrontation between the two. "It is often expected of us that we will at some moment began to quarrel and compete with each other in the political arena," he said. "But I want to say that this will not happen." "Can you imagine a situation where, for example, [U.S. President] Barack Obama began to compete with [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton?" he went on. "But I recall they were both in the race for the presidency." Medvedev on Saturday ended months of speculation that he might run for a second term when he proposed to delegates at a United Russian party congress that they back Putin to return to the Kremlin. Putin accepted, and Medvedev is now likely to head the government after next March's presidential elections.