Moscow, Aug 31 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has dismissed rumours about him still running Russia as ‘complete nonsense’.
‘It is a complete nonsense that I am still running the country,’ the prime minister said during a 2,000-km trip along the Khabarovsk to Chita highway Monday.
Putin said he was mainly engaged in Russia’s domestic affairs. ‘I am fed up with foreign policy,’ he said.
The prime minister said Dmitry Medvedev was good at performing his duties.
‘I do not see anything that would cause fear and anxiety. The president does everything in a high-quality and informed manner. Everything that he does in the foreign policy sphere. I can call him, he can call me, we can consult each other,’ Putin said.
Opinion polls have shown that Putin continues to be the country’s most popular politician, despite growing dissatisfaction over the authorities’ inability to take control of the wildfires that scorched central Russia this summer.
Most people in the country still believe Putin actually runs Russia, not Medvedev.