Medvedev approved as Russian PM Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, see here with his wife Svetlana, has just finished two terms as Russia's president. MOSCOW, May 8 (UPI) -- Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin officially switched jobs Tuesday when the Russian Duma approved Medvedev as prime minister. The vote came a day after Putin was inaugurated as president, RIA Novosti reported. Putin's first official act Monday was to propose Medvedev as prime minister. With support from the Liberal Democrats as well as the United Russia Party, Medvedev was confirmed by a 299-144 vote in the Duma or Parliament. A Just Russia and the Communist Party opposed him. Putin served two consecutive terms as president, the maximum allowed under the constitution, and then became prime minister from 2008 to 2012. The president introduced Medvedev as a reformer: "In an open dialogue with civil society, he began serious reforms, reformed aimed to improve productivity of the government apparatus, the law-enforcement and judicial system that could protect people and defend truth and justice."