They do things differently in Russia. Take the so-called election of Dmitry Medvedev to the Presidency of that country. He was hand-picked for the job by Vladimir Putin and, lo! and behold, Mr Medvedev ends up in the Kremlin. Two factors helped, the state monopoly over television and the state's virtual suppression of a serious opposition.

The point, then, is not so much Mr Medvedev's success at the polls as Mr Putin's overpowering control of the country, a control that helped to give him full marks for the so-called economic transformation of Russia's economy and, in turn, by surging prices for Russia's abundance of oil and gas. Mr Putin also succeeded in cocking a snook at the West by punching well above his country's weight in a number of bouts that included the Iranian question.

The political stability he established after inheriting a shambles from his predecessor Boris Yeltsin and Russia's growling re-entry into global power-politics went a long way to credit Mr Putin with the semblance of a success story that greatly enhanced his reputation at home and abroad. After a faulty start he strengthened his position in the Kremlin to the extent that he could get away with picking his successor - and manipulating Mr Medvedev's ascendancy to a job from which Mr Putin was barred because he had served the two terms in office allowed by the Constitution.

The point about Mr Medvedev is that he has no Soviet past in the sense that both his predecessors had. He comes to the job with a great deal of experience in observing the grammar of the use of power. After all, he ran Mr Putin's presidential campaign in 2000 and was promoted to be his deputy chief of staff soon after. He ran Gazprom, the Russian answer to Shell & BP combined - none too transparently and none too efficiently, his critics point out; like Topsy it just grew - hindered in his work by the fact that Mr Putin kept calling the shots.

What everybody will be watching and waiting for the new man at the Kremlin, however, is not what he achieved or failed to achieve during the past eight years but how he will use the enormous powers inherent in the Russian Presidency. There are those who fear that he will be Mr Putin's puppet, with the former President calling the shots from Parliament, where he is now Russia's Prime Minister and, some say, President-in-Waiting.

There is more Mr Putin would have wished to achieve during the last eight years. He will now try to complete his mission in a different role.

If this turns out to be the case, it means that he will have to render Mr Medvedev impotent. This may sound easy, too easy. For it is a part of human nature and a truism in politics as well as in other games of leadership that, very often, the office makes the man. Mr Medvedev knows what his powers vis-à-vis the Parliament are. He knows what to expect from his Prime Minister - he has worked alongside him long enough. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. His main difficulty, and it is a considerable one, is whether he possesses the steel to take control of the system which Mr Putin hopes to keep for himself.

One can only hope so, for the new President of Russia speaks with a different voice, a more liberal one that favours the rule of law. How certain he is on this and other matters that may open Russia up to a more democratic state remains to be seen.