U.S. President George Bush says one of Russia's presidential candidates Dmitry Medvedev won't be Vladimir Putin's puppet if he's elected. Bush did admit though, he doesn't know Medvedev well enough to say how influential he could be.
One test may be who attends the upcoming G8 summit, the president of prime minister. Bush's view of Dmitry Medvedev differs from all U.S. presidential candidates, who claim he'll only be frontman for Vladimir Putin's policies. Meanwhile, tempers have frayed in the last few days of campaigning ahead of the presidential election in Russia. On Thursday, the Democratic Party's candidate Andrey Bogdanov said he would shoot the person who dared to harm his friends. The statement follows a confrontation between the leader of Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Bogdanov's election agent. The incident took place after a televised debate. Zhirinovsky, known for his outlandish behaviour, pushed Bogdanov's agent out of the studio. Bogdanov's party then appealed to the Central Election Commission, asking them to ban Zhirinovsky from the presidential race. The request was rejected.