普京正式接受总统候选人提名

现年59岁，曾于2000年至2008年担任过两届俄罗斯总统的俄现任总理弗拉基米尔·普京日前正式接受了执政党总统候选人提名。

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addresses the audience during a United Russia party congress in Moscow November 27, 2011.
Putin, president from 2000-2008 and now prime minister, is expected to easily recapture the presidency¹ in an election in March. But opinion polls indicate a parliamentary vote in a week could loosen his United Russia party's domination of politics.

The timing² of his Putin's nomination³ for the presidency - two months after he first said he would run - appeared aimed at giving United Russia a boost in the December 4 parliamentary vote at a time when the ruling party's support has flagged.

"Of course, I accept the proposal with gratitude," Putin said, confidently accepting the nomination before a crowd of 10,000 supporters chanting his name in a Moscow sports arena⁴. The congress was broadcast live on television.

Putin said that ahead of both votes "representatives of some foreign countries are gathering⁵ those they are paying money to, so-called grant recipients⁶, to instruct them and assign work in order to influence the election campaign themselves."

He said any such activity was a "wasted effort" because Russians would reject foreign-funded politicians, comparing them to Judas, the traitor⁷（叛徒） of Jesus in the bible.

Foreign governments "would do better to pay off（付清） their debts with this money and stop pursuing inefficient⁸ and costly⁹ economic policies," he said in a dig at economic troubles in Europe and the United States.

Putin, 59, was constitutionally obliged to leave the presidency after serving two consecutive¹⁰ four-year terms, but has remained Russia's most powerful man as prime minister. The constitution now permits him to serve two more consecutive terms of six years, which could see him stay president until 2024.

During his presidency, Putin often suggested Western countries were funding his opponents. Competing political forces have been effectively sidelined in the 11 years since he first came to power.

In a carefully choreographed¹¹（精心设计的） performance, Putin traded praise with his hand-picked presidential successor, Dmitry Medvedev, who is expected to take over the prime minister's post after stepping aside for Putin to return to the presidency.

Support for United Russia would boost Putin's performance in next year's presidential election, Medvedev said.

"The more convincing our result is on December 4, the more certain and more solid our victory will be at (presidential) elections in March of next year," Medvedev told an audience packed with famous public figures and throngs¹²（人群，众多） of young people.

Putin is Russia's most popular politician, credited by the public for ending the steep economic decline of the post-Soviet period. But his approval rating has slipped in the past year, standing¹³ at 67 percent in the most recent survey by independent pollster Levada-Center, down from near 80 percent in 2010.