Fishing for votes: Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. Fishing for votes: Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. Photo: Reuters
RUSSIA'S two top leaders, believed to be close to deciding which of them will run for president, have spent a day fishing and boating on the Volga River in a rare, day-long private meeting.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin went for a walk on the riverbank in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia, did some spin fishing and then set off for a boat trip to take underwater pictures.
Mr Putin arrived from Moscow while Mr Medvedev flew in from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where he is spending his summer holiday.

Both men have hinted that one of them, but not both, will run in the March 2012 presidential election and are expected to decide soon.
Political competition has been all but extinguished since Mr Putin came to power, so elections are little more than a display of loyalty. But Kremlin insiders see popularity as a key to the government's survival.
Polling data will play a significant role in deciding who will become president - and how the campaign will be waged. Mr Putin has remained the dominant figure, even as he has gone from the presidency to the prime minister's office.
''This system, which has developed over 10 years, is based on the support of the population,'' said Public Opinion Foundation president Aleksandr Oslon.
Mr Oslon's company is one of several that conducts expensive, data-intensive polls on behalf of the Kremlin and other government agencies, including an extensive ''georating'', a regular survey of 60,000 Russians, as well as a weekly poll of 3000 that includes confidential questions shared only with Mr Medvedev's and Mr Putin's teams.
Other pollsters seek to identify policy statements and political gestures that resonate with segments of the Russian public, such as retirees with nostalgic notions of Soviet power, or the educated urban middle class eager for indications that Russia is becoming a modern nation.
Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev are entering the campaign cycle with approval ratings lower than at any point since 2008, according to the state-owned All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre.

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