MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should run for president in 2012.

Medvedev asked the ruling United Russia party to support Putin's candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.

"I believe it would be right if the congress support party leader Vladimir Putin's candidacy for president," Medvedev told the party's pre-election congress.

Meanwhile, Putin nominated Medvedev to head the ruling party's list for the December 4 parliamentary elections.

Medvedev has accepted the nomination, saying he was ready to modernize the largest parliamentary party of Russia.

The congress of United Russia began Friday at the Rossiya State Central Concert Hall in Moscow's Luzhniki sport complex.

Speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov said 639 delegates participated in the congress.

The congress would approve a party platform and its federal list of candidates for the 6th State Duma, or lower house of the Russian parliament.