Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin probably won't run for president in 2012, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Thursday.

"He is unlikely to run. Two terms are quite enough, and he has already served his two terms," the Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying.

However, Gorbachev suggested that Putin still might again become president one day.

"What is he going to do in the future? He might swap with (incumbent president) Dmitry Medvedev again," he said.

Russia is "halfway through to democracy," Gorbachev said, adding that "in order to become a democratic country, authorities should stop to oppress the opposition."

Gorbachev also admitted that the direction Russia moving to now is further far from his ideals.

In addition, Gorbachev said that "those who think that terrorism can be defeated by guns and rifles are wrong."

He called poverty, humiliation and lack of stability the problems that need to be addressed if the country want to tackle terrorism.