I’m not sure if this is good news or bad since history has shown each leader in Russia gets progressively worse, and Putin has virtually returned to communism as a system of government.

MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin told Russians more clearly than ever Thursday that he will step down when his second term ends next spring, but left his choice of a successor tantalizingly unclear.
Speaking a day after the burial of Boris Yeltsin, who handed him Russia’s reins seven years ago, Putin rejected claims that he has beat a retreat from democracy and stifled freedoms that flourished under his predecessor.

The constitution adopted under Yeltsin bars presidents from serving three straight terms. But Putin’s popularity—and Russia’s lean experience with democratic power transfers—has led to persistent speculation that he might stay on.

Last month, the speaker of the upper parliament house became the latest in a string of politicians to call for constitutional changes allowing Putin to run in the presidential election in March 2008.

Putin has dismissed the idea but has occasionally left confusing hints. In a state of the nation speech to parliament, he seemed to clarify the issue with few words: “The next state of the nation address will be given by another head of state.”

We’ll just have to wait and see.

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