FACTBOX: Putin's next job options

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's decision on Monday to back longtime ally Dmitry Medvedev as his successor in a presidential election next year raises the question of what Putin himself will do once his term ends.

Barred by the constitution from seeking a third consecutive presidential mandate, Putin has made clear he wants to use his popularity with Russian voters to retain power and influence after leaving the Kremlin.

Following are a number of scenarios mentioned by political analysts for Putin's next job:

UNION WITH BELARUS

Putin will visit neighboring Belarus this week. The trip has fostered speculation, dismissed by the Kremlin, that Putin plans to revive long-dormant plans to unite Russia with its former Soviet neighbor in a new "union state".

Putin would become president of the new state, allowing him to keep supreme power without breaking a constitutional ban on three consecutive terms as president of Russia.

The biggest potential hurdle to such a plan would be winning agreement from Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, whose enthusiasm for the union state cooled last year. Putin and Lukashenko have had a major public row over Moscow's desire to raise gas prices.

PRIME MINISTER

Putin himself has hinted that he could consider taking the prime minister's job after leaving the Kremlin. Such a move would be easy to execute -- his United Russia party won a huge parliamentary majority in elections on December 2 and controls the lower house of parliament.

The disadvantage of this option is that Russia's constitution gives the prime minister a subservient role. Many important institutions report directly to the president and the president can fire the prime minister at will, although the parliament must approve his replacement.

Analysts say that in this scenario Putin would either risk seeing his power diluted or would need to rewrite the constitution to beef up the prime minister's role, something he has said he will not do.

NATIONAL LEADER

Some pro-Putin movements have called for Putin to be declared a "national leader" who would exercise influence by standing above party politics to shape government policy and would not need a formal position.

Advocates of this scenario cite the Chinese model, where national leaders have emerged with power and prestige without needing strong formal roles.

Critics say that in a country with such a long tradition of centralized, authoritarian power as Russia, it would be hard to imagine an ill-defined "national leader" as superior to the president.

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