Washington, Dec 11, SPA -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that the “last thing” she wanted was the concentration of Russian political power in the Kremlin. Rice spoke as Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed his long-time ally Dmitry Medvedev to succeed him, preparing the way for Putin to hold power from behind the scenes after he leaves the presidency next year. Putin has been accused by several governments, foreign-policy analysts, and human-rights groups of creating a dramatic increase in the Kremlin’s influence and an erosion of civil liberties.“The last thing that you want is no separation of powers among various entities because-I don’t care who is in the Kremlin-if all power is in that presidency, then you are going to have a problem for democratic development,” Rice said in response to a question after a speech to a women’s foreign-policy group in Washington. Rice was not specifically asked about Putin’s decision to back Medvedev to succeed him as president.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/508323