Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday he does not rule out running for the second term of office in the 2012 presidential election, yet he "won''t be elbowing" with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

As he addressed a news conference in Rome, he said that one must have really good chances of being elected to decide to run for presidency.

"Prime Minister Putin said he doesn''t rule out a possibility of running /for the presidential office/ in 2012/ and I don''t rule it either," Medvedev said.

"We''re close enough to each other and we understand each other well and we work together," he said. "I think we''ll be able to come to terms on how to stay away from elbowing and how to take a decition that''ll be rational for the whole of the country," he said.

Along with this, Medvedev believes a person seeking nomination should have a big enough support among the Russians.

"Only if Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin have at least some chance of being elected /shall they run for the office -- Itar-Tass/," Medvedev said.

"We don''t know the future or what the situation will be like in a few years from now but anyway we''ll behave like responsible politicians and I feel quite confident about that," he said.