MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev could occupy the country residence that formerly accommodated Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, a respected Russian daily said on Monday.

Izvestia said reconstruction is being hastily finished at the country house in Gorki-9, on the highway colloquially known as Rublyovka, 18 km (11 miles) west of Moscow. The residence is apparently being prepared for Medvedev, who will be sworn into office on May 7.

Hundreds of workers have been coming to the area in buses and cars every day, and dozens of vehicles were parked along a high wall around the estate on Sunday, an unusual scene for the normally quiet, prestigious area, the paper said.

Alexander, an electrician working at the site and interviewed by the paper after leaving the heavily-guarded territory, said he and his colleagues were under pressure to complete their work.

"There is still a fair amount of work to be done, although reconstruction began in winter. We have been asked to speed up," Alexander told the paper.

"They say it was Boris Yeltsin's residence. However, inside the building has changed beyond recognition," he added.

Yeltsin lived in Gorki from 1996 until his resignation in 2000, when he moved to a house near Barvikha, another 'elite village' and sanatorium on Rublyovka. He lived there until his death in April 2007.

Gorki is outfitted with all the attributes of a presidential residence, such as a helicopter pad and advanced security technology. Receiving foreign officials in their country homes has long been used as a sign of good relations by Russian, and earlier Soviet, leaders.

Rublyovka has long been a site for dachas, or country houses. In the Soviet period, prominent officials, writers and other VIPs often used state-owned dachas in the vicinity of Barvikha and Gorki. Today wealthy Russians build their homes in the area.

The Kremlin has refused to comment on the story. However, inside sources have confirmed the report, Izvestia said.

"Gorki-9 will have a new function with the advent of the new president," the sources told the paper.

Gorki-9 is located close to Novo-Ogaryovo, the country residence of outgoing President Vladimir Putin, which he will retain as premier.