I would point to his little 'resignation' he did before with his little puppet as evidence but I've seen repeatedly how poorly pointing to his actions as proof of what he's likely to do in the future works and have learned from experience that evidence is less convincing than I like to think it is.

I mean it's not like he's already handled this issue once before or anything, and done exactly what I predict he's going to do now or anything. No, perish the thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/world/europe/putin-resigns-from-party-post.html