Putin's Chosen Successor, Medvedev, Elected in Russia

Putin, 55, has said he is willing to serve as prime minister when Medvedev in May becomes the third man to move into the Kremlin since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The campaign failed to clarify how the two will share power, and whether Putin's new role is a temporary station to help Medvedev consolidate his position or a mechanism to allow Putin to continue to dominate the country.

At a news conference early Monday, Medvedev said confidently that Putin would become prime minister and that the division of labor was clearly defined by the constitution, with foreign policy in the hands of the president.

Under the constitution, the president is by far the most powerful figure in Russia. But a Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, backed by his popularity and a parliament that owes allegiance to him, not Medvedev, could be a daunting rival for the new president should the two clash.

"Conflict between Putin and Medvedev is more than possible, not because of their personal relations, which are good, but because of this complicated and controversial configuration of power," said Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "The presidency is a colossal instrument, but it will take time for Medvedev to take any independent steps."

At stake and still uncertain is Medvedev's ability to chart a new course for Russia, something he has hinted at over the past two months. He has spoken of increasing personal freedoms backed by the rule of law as well as a scaled-back state role in the economy and a less confrontational stance abroad.

But as a former head of the presidential administration and first deputy prime minister, Medvedev has been a loyal servant of a Kremlin that has stifled political competition at home, brought key sectors of the economy under state control and pursued an increasingly strident foreign policy that is deeply suspicious of the West, particularly the United States.

"Medvedev is at least inclined to liberal declarations," said Mark Urnov, head of the Expertiza, a Moscow research group. "He supports the development of private business, and he is inclined to reduce state interference in the economy. He seems to be more pro-Western than anyone else from Putin's team. But the question is whether any of it is going to be realized. And that depends entirely on the balance of influences."

Medvedev has said, for instance, that cooperation with the United States is "inevitable." But he has also said that "it is easier to work with people who have modern positions than with those who are fixated on the past and sometimes defend half-senile views," an apparent reference to President Bush.

Medvedev's victory was never in doubt, and he has broad appeal. Russians are better off than eight years ago, and they credit Putin for an economic boom fueled by the soaring price of oil and natural gas. The West's concerns about the country's direction away from democracy are dismissed here as self-serving. And the Kremlin and its allies argue that the West is too unforgiving of the difficulties of building democratic traditions in a state they say nearly collapsed in the 1990s.

The leading European watchdog group, the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, declined to monitor the vote, citing restrictions that election authorities placed on their work. Observers from republics of the former Soviet Union were present and are expected to declare the vote free and fair. A report by 23 legislators from the Council of Europe, a human rights monitoring body and the only major Western organization observing the vote, will be issued Monday.

Special correspondent Anna Masterova contributed to this report.