She told me she loved me: Medvedev gushes

President Dmitry Medvedev may be no heartthrob but he entertained Russians Tuesday with a story from his youth, saying a startling love confession from a student had left him red-faced.

Medvedev, a lawyer by training, was a graduate student in his early 20s when he was tasked with grading an exam in Roman law.

He said he took pity on one poorly prepared but "pretty" female student, helping her pass the test by asking her a series of helpful questions.

"As a result, she made it," Medvedev told a gathering of Moscow students in televised remarks. "She leaves, the door shuts, a minute passes, she opens the door, sticks her face round the door and says: 'I love you.'"

"She says 'I love you' and shuts the door."

The Kremlin chief said the confession had left him red-faced and added he was especially startled that the girl used the familiar "ty" form rather than the formal "vy."

"I wished the earth could swallow me up," the Kremlin chief said. "I realised that I have a lot to learn yet."

As Russia heads for presidential elections in 2012, both Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, say they may run and are competing for airtime.

Unlike the 45-year-old Medvedev, who is considered a family man, the 58-year-old Putin openly flaunts his masculinity and has famously told reporters to keep their "snotty noses" out of his private life.

Analysts say that despite his falling ratings Putin could easily win a third term in the Kremlin, while a recent study described Medvedev, who lacks his predecessor's charisma, as "unelectable."

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