Conflict Makes Clear Who Rules in Russia

"From the very beginning, we've been seeing attempts to put a wedge between Medvedev and Putin, but it has not worked. They work together very successfully," Arutyunov said. In his view, each needs the other, since it is widely expected that Putin will run for president again in four years. Should some unpopular policy go awry, Putin can always say it was Medvedev's idea.

Evgenii Minchenko, director of the International Institute of Political Expertise, offered a similar view. If Medvedev can put some distance between himself and controversial decisions such as the use of force against Georgia, he can maintain his image, especially in the West, as a possible reformer.

Tatyana Parkhalina, director of the Center for European Security, said she was struck by the fact that Medvedev made no significant statement about the conflict in the early going and was still vacationing on the Volga River with his family while Putin was headed toward the front.

State-controlled television, meanwhile, aired footage that cast Putin as the man in charge. Russians saw him striding through an outpost, talking with military commanders near the front and making bedside visits to injured civilians from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. It was only on Tuesday that Medvedev was depicted in a role of authority, appearing with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce that a cease-fire had been reached.

Parkhalina said the Russia-Georgia conflict put an end to the perception that perhaps there was some genuine competition between Medvedev and Putin's clique of former KGB officers whose views were shaped in the Cold War era.

Putin's people "have won for the moment," she said. "This is very bad for the Russian Federation."

Dmitry Trenin, deputy director of studies at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said stereotypes of the two leaders, particularly among American policymakers, may obscure the fact that Russia had little choice but to take action against Georgia after its president, Mikheil Saakashvili, ordered troops into South Ossetia. The Georgians' nighttime shelling of Tskhinvali, he said, amounted to a war crime.

Because of the image of Putin as an authoritarian, he said, the reaction in the West was to cheer David over Goliath. In the United States, he said, it's difficult to show any understanding of Moscow's move "because then you're accused of being pro-Russian, pro-Putin."

All the same, Trenin agreed that the conflict would likely strengthen Putin's hand and set back hopes of true democracy in Russia. "Most people are content to let the Kremlin rule. I would call it authoritarianism with the consent of the governed."

But Trenin also said the aspirations and growing affluence of Russia's expanding middle class promise to be the most effective check on further authoritarianism. "At some point, they will be choosing not only cars but the people who run the country," Trenin said.