Putin plotting return as Russia's President: Report

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is plotting to stage a comeback as the president of that nation by stripping the judiciary's right to elect the head of the powerful constitutional court, a media report said on Thursday.

Although he is legally allowed to run as president in the year 2012, the loss of the judiciary's last "quasi-independent" position would remove any "lingering potential" for a legal challenge should Putin make an early presidential comeback, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Interestingly, the proposal, which would effectively rid Russia of its last democratic vestiges, was put forward by the Kremlin perhaps in an attempt to appease Putin, following rumours that President Dmitry Medvedev was starting to assert his independence, the report said, quoting political analysts.

The new rules will see the head of the court, that can overturn legislation it regards unconstitutional, appointed by the pliant upper house of Parliament, essentially making his position dependent on the Kremlin's whim, they have claimed.

At present, the court's president is chosen by its 19 constituent judges through a secret ballot.