Putin May Attend July G-8 Summit As Russian Prime Min.

Moscow, Feb. 29 (Jiji Press)–President Vladimir Putin, who is seen to be succeeded by Dmitry Medvedev, is mulling attending the Group of Eight summit to be held in Japan in July as Russia’s prime minister, sources close to the president have told Jiji Press.

Medvedev, now first deputy prime minister, appears almost certain to win Russia’s presidential election on Sunday as he has obtained strong backing from Putin.

Medvedev, who would take office in May if elected president, is expected to name Putin as prime minister.

Putin is showing strong interest in attending the G-8 summit together with Medvedev because he is not sure yet how Medvedev would fare in the face of U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the sources said.

The summit among the eight major nations–Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States–is scheduled to take place in Toyako, a lakeside resort town in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, for three days from July 7.

Meanwhile, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said that Tokyo has yet to receive any notice from Russia about who will represent the country at the summit.

At a news conference on Feb. 14, Putin said that he wants to take charge of economic, national defense and security affairs as prime minister after stepping down from the post of president.

If Medvedev takes part in the July summit following his expected victory in the presidential election, he would be the first top leader of Russia to visit Hokkaido, which is close to the four small Russian-held islands at the center of the decades-old territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.END

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