Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday got into a verbal spat with his Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and demanded his resignation live on TV.
The spat comes after Kudrin, while commenting on the Medvedev-Putin pact to swap jobs after Presidential elections in March, said that he will not work under Medvedev due to differences over policy issues, including high defence spendings.
Directly addressing Kudrin at a meeting in Volga region of Dmitrovgrad on Monday, Medvedev demanded his resignation if he disagrees with the head of state.
Responding to his demand Kudrin said that before taking a decision he would consult with Putin.
"You may consult anyone, including the prime minister but I am the president so far and such decisions are taken by me. "You need to make your decision very quickly and give an answer by the end of this day," Medvedev told Kudrin in his televised remarks.
Kudrin has been Russia's finance minister since 2000, when Putin first took presidency and is widely seen as the man who repaid Russia's Soviet era debt and created a buffer fund by channelling oil windfall to forestall economic crisis in 2008.
After Saturday's announcement, which turned Medvedev into a lame duck president, the Kremlin team has been trying to put a brave face.
on Sunday, Presidential spokesperson Natalia Timakova insisted that till March election and transfer of power 'nothing has changed - Medvedev remains the president and Putin Prime Minister, with all the consequences flowing out of it.
If the swap happens, Putin will take up the Russian Presidency for the third term after a break of four years.
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