Putin rejects lifelong tenure for state leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a meeting with World War II veterans in St Petersburg on Saturday, and raised the topic about his succession.

He said he did not want Russia to return to the late Soviet-era practice of having lifelong rulers who died in office without a proper succession strategy, Reuters reported.

Putin made the comments days after he proposed a package of constitutional amendments which led to the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister along with his government.

Putin, in a surprise move, picked Mikhail Mishustin, the low-profile head of the country's tax service, as the country's next prime minister. Russians are now waiting to hear which ministers will keep their jobs in a new government.

Asked by a war veteran on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad if it was time to abolish term limits for presidents altogether, Putin said:"As regards (presidential) terms for staying in power I understand ... that (concern over this) is linked for many people with worries about societal, state and domestic and external stability.

"But it would be very worrying to return to the situation we had in the mid-1980s when state leaders stayed in power, one by one, until the end of their days and left office without ensuring the necessary conditions for a transition of power. So thanks, but I think it would be better not to return to that situation."

Putin also told the veterans that the truth about World War II is sometimes hushed up deliberately by foreign countries at the state level and some corresponding websites are closed down.

According to news agency Tass, Putin said when propaganda that distorts the truth goes up to the level of state in foreign countries, nothing can be said against it.

"They close them (the websites) up, that's all. We have said several times that is posted on the internet, and oops! The site is shut down from abroad. Then again, oops, and it is closed down. As soon as it (the news) appears, they shut it (the website) down," Putin said.

Reuters contributed to this story.