The Russian Constitution does not bar Prime Minister Vladimir Putin from running for president in 2012. But, as the head of government said at a meeting with Valdai Club members, it is too soon to discuss it.

Vladimir Putin said that the Russian Constitution was adopted democratically. As an example he cited the 32nd U.S. President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who held the highest post in the country four terms in a row “because it did not contradict the Constitution.”