MOSCOW, April 14 (Reuters) - A senior figure in Russia's ruling party said on Thursday it wants Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return to the Kremlin next year, countering President Dmitry Medvedev who is showing stronger signs he wants a second term.
The remarks reflected increasing tension between backers of the two leaders in anticipation of a decision by Putin on whether he will seek to reclaim the presidency or endorse Medvedev for an election next March.
"As for the party’s position on the 2012 elections, United Russia will orient itself on its leader Vladimir Putin," said Yuri Shuvalov, deputy secretary of the presidium of the United Russia party’s General Council, in a statement on its website.
Putin, president from 2000-08, was required by the constitution to step aside after two consecutive terms in the Kremlin, and chose Medvedev as his successor.
He is permitted to run again in next year’s election.
He and Medvedev say they now rule as a "tandem" and they will decide together which of them will run for president. Most political analysts believe the decision is up to Putin.
Uncertainty over whether Putin will aim to return to the Kremlin or back Medvedev has divided factions of the political elite, who have begun to weigh in publicly on the issue.
Medvedev has said he will decide soon on whether to run. On Wednesday Putin said it was too early to announce a decision.
During his three years in power, Medvedev has accomplished few of his objectives, mostly focused on improving rule of law in Russia and the modernisation of the country.
But the president has cut an increasingly confident figure recently, ordering government ministers, including important Putin allies, to give up seats on the boards of state-run companies, like Rosneft <ROSN.MM> and VTB <VTBR.MM>.
Analysts say it is growing clearer that he wants to stay on.
United Russia backed Medvedev for president in 2008 after Putin annointed him as his chosen successor, but Putin became chairman of the party and uses it as both a source and an instrument of power.
Medvedev has occasionally criticised it.
Political analyst Boris Makarenko said the loyal party would back whichever candidate it is told to back in the election, but expressing a preference now appeared to be a bid by the party to clip Medvedev’s wings and increase the chances Putin would run.
"I don’t think Shuvalov was speaking under orders from Putin," said United Russia lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin, who has publicly expressed his preference for Putin over Medvedev.
"More likely certain circles in United Russia came to the conclusion that it was no good to postpone an announcement of their opinion."
Putin described the increasing public attention on the election on Wednesday as a "fuss" and said it was disrupting the work of the government and the presidential administration.
