Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement Monday that he desires a second term as president but won't run against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should Putin declare his candidacy has inspired heightened speculation over Russia's unusual power-sharing duo ahead of elections next March.
When attempting to understand the Putin-Medvedev dynamic, Ben Judah, a London-based policy fellow and Russia specialist with the European Council on Foreign Relations, says one must take care not to view the two as being in competition with each other.
"It shouldn't be confused as a battle between two rivals," Judah reminded Trend Lines earlier this week. "The tandem was created for this reason, to give this illusion that there is a race, when actually it's a choice taken between a closed group of men about what best serves their collective interest."