Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, on Tuesday left open the possibility that he might run for a second term in 2012, saying that he was “not ruling anything out”.

His comments, coming the day after he hosted a lavish international security conference and a week after he posted a political manifesto on the internet, suggest Mr Medvedev is attempting to step out of the shadow of his mentor, Vladimir Putin, prime minister and former president.

But his remarks fall far short of a direct challenge to Mr Putin, who himself hinted last week that he might run for the presidency again in 2012.

The two leaders’ remarks raise the political temperature in Russia well in advance of the elections, even though most Russians believe Mr Putin remains in charge and that there are few serious policy differences between the two men.

“Some time ago I didn’t want to run for the presidency but fate has intervened, so I am not making any forecasts for myself and I am not ruling anything out,” Mr Medvedev told the Valdai Club, a group of Russia experts.

The Russian president said while Mr Putin had the highest popularity rating, his own was “not at all bad”. Mr Putin earlier told the Valdai Club that the two men would to­gether decide who would run.

Mr Medvedev contrasted his own 10-year career in business before entering the Kremlin with Mr Putin’s past in the KGB. But he also said the two men were close, having both graduated from the faculty of law in St Petersburg. “It’s very easy to discuss things with him. That’s why we became such a good team.”

Mr Medvedev reserved his toughest words for Russian business, attacking corruption and an excessive reliance on ex­ploiting the country’s vast natural resources. He said: “A huge number of businessmen do nothing. Their businesses don’t create anything; they only sell raw materials. I am not saying this is offensive but we need to change business mentality.”

The president called for widespread economic and social reform and concerted action against bribery, saying: “Corrupt officials run Russia – they have the power in the Russian Federation.” But Mr Medvedev warned progress would take time, perhaps 15 years.

On US-Russia relations, he talked warmly of his relationship with President Barack Obama. “With Oba­ma we had eight hours of talks. That’s a long time …This is not bad at all, especially when you think that with the previous US ad­min­istration [of George W. Bush] we used to talk for an hour or an hour and a half and run out of topics.”

Mr Medvedev’s view contrasted with that of Mr Putin, who, at his meeting with the Valdai Club, barely mentioned Mr Obama but reminisced about Mr Bush.

On Iran, Mr Medvedev seemed more open than Mr Putin to the possibility of imposing stronger sanctions in the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

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