(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-10 21:59

Putin reinforced that perception Monday by saying that electing Medvedev would pave the way for a government "that will carry out the course that has brought results for all of the past eight years."

The Russian stock market surged on the news, led by Gazprom, whose shares jumped 1.6 percent within a few minutes. The market also apparently was boosted by the end of long uncertainty over whom Putin would designate as successor.

Both Medvedev and Putin worked under St. Petersburg's mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. After Putin became prime minister in 1999, he brought Medvedev to Moscow to become deputy chief of staff of the Cabinet. He then moved up to become deputy chief of staff for the president, became Gazprom board head in 2002 and full presidential chief of staff in 2003. In 2005, Putin named him a first deputy prime minister.

   1 2   

   1 2