Putin Warns West His Successor To Be Just As Tough

[Purveyor]

NOVO OGARYEVO, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday warned the West against expecting a thaw under his "nationalist" successor Dmitry Medvedev.

"Dmitry Medvedev will be free to demonstrate his liberal views," Putin said after talks at his Novo Ogaryevo residence outside Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"But he is no less a Russian nationalist, in the good sense of the word, than I am, and I do not think that with him the partnership will be more simple."

Putin issued the warning just before Merkel went to a separate meeting with Medvedev, the first between a Western leader and the new president-elect since his controversial election March 2.

Putin also lashed out at the Western military alliance NATO, which he accused of attempting to become a "substitute for the United NationsN".

Merkel came to Russia to take the political temperature ahead of Putin handing over to Medvedev, who has crafted a more liberal image than his ex-KGB mentor.

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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hBVrWl4I7TgPFDN-xxO6WZOOeqaQ

[whistle]

1. All this saber rattling sounds like an endorsement for McCain by Putin