Only recently Mr. Shaimiev has sent a message to Mr. Putin requesting trust in him.

At the press conference in the Kazan kremlin last Friday, Mr. Shaimiev said that he had handed over the request on March 9 at the meeting with Mr. Putin in Moscow. The pretext was, according to Mr. Shaimiev, the changed situation with the elections of heads of regions.

"Since the elections situation has changed and the price of stability in such a republic as Tatarstan is high, the president has expressed the desire for me to remain for another term", Mr. Shaimiev said.

After that, he had addressed the president of the Russian Federation, he said.

Mr. Shaimiev has accepted the federal president's proposal for one more term as the president of the Republic of Tatarstan.

"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has asked me to do so although, he said, he knows that I have several times voice the lack of desire for another term of presidency", Mr. Shaimiev said.

"Mr. Shaimiev's work as the president of Tatarstan is now wanted in Tatarstan and Russia. I'm very glad he has agreed", presidential plenipotentiary in the Volga federal district Mr. Kirienko has said.

To him, Mr. Shaimiev's retaining the post is very important "especially in the year of the Kazan millennium. It is a world-wide event, to say nothing of its importance in Russia".

"I once openly said that, if he (Shaimiev) does not want to remain in the post, I'm ready to go and talk him into it", the plenipotentiary recalled.

Source: Novosti