News | 11.12.2007 | 08:00 UTC /from d.welle
Germany welcomes Putin's choice for successor
Germany has welcomed a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to endorse First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor when he steps down next March. Gernot Erler, the minister of state at the German foreign office, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that Medvedev would represent a change from the current Kremlin leadership. Erler said that Germany was encouraged by the fact that Medvedev has neither a secret-service nor a military background. Observers say that Putin's endorsement makes the 42-year-old former lawyer the clear favourite to win the election. Medvedev is the chairman of the state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and has been a close associate of Putin for the past two decades.
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