Russian president Vladimir Putin nominated close political ally Dmitry Medvedev as his party's presidential candidate today and said he was ready to serve as prime minister in a Medvedev administration.
"If Russian citizens express their confidence in Dmitry Medvedev and elect him as the country's president, I will be ready to head the government," Mr Putin told a congress of his United Russia party held near Moscow's Red Square.
"(We) shouldn't be ashamed or afraid of transferring the key powers of the country, the destiny of Russia to the hands of such a man," he added.
Mr Putin signalled Mr Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister and chairman of state gas giant Gazprom, last week as his chosen successor for next March's presidential elections.
The constitution forbids Mr Putin from seeking a third term. Analysts said the choice of a loyal longtime colleague with no political base of his own signalled Mr Putin's desire to keep a grip on power after leaving the Kremlin next May.
Mr Putin walked into the congress hall side by side with Mr Medvedev to applause from the serried ranks of dark-suited delegates. In a brief speech, Mr Putin said there was no intention to change the balance of power between the president and the prime minister.
Russia's constitution grants most power to the president, who appoints the prime minister and can fire him. Mr Putin praised Mr Medvedev as a man whose "main principles in life are the interests of its government and its citizens."
In a further sign of Mr Putin's intention to keep a grip on power next year, Russian media reported that Mr Putin could send the Kremlin chief of staff to run Mr Medvedev's election campaign.
The Vedomosti newspaper reported that Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Sobyanin and possibly the main Kremlin political strategist, Vladislav Surkov, would head Mr Medvedev's campaign.