The second step the new power structure is taking and will maintain in the future is the practice of sustaining the president's authority as prescribed by the Constitution while allowing Putin to play his special role. There has not been much controversy as far as these two steps are concerned.

The third step will be an examination of the results of the first two to see if they will remain stable for a long time, what loopholes they have and what problems they may cause. To this the assessment will differ markedly from one point of view to another.

The Medvedev-Putin pairing faces one of three prospects. One is privity and smoothness, which is exactly what they hope for and more likely to realize. Another is reluctance and making do, which cannot be totally ruled out since their cooperation could bring to unforeseen obstacles. Then there is breakdown and breakup, which seems quite impossible.

The reason is simple: Putin would not pick and support someone he is prepared to overthrow, because that is not in Russia's national interest. The Medvedev-Putin pairing needs time to fine-tune their teamwork and things can go either way during that time. Everything is either conventional or otherwise, and it is usually the former that counts.

The third is necessity and contingency. It is not correct to say that Boris Yeltsin achieved nothing during his eight or nine years as Russian president, but the country's general condition and especially its economy were in really bad shape back then.

Someone capable of leading the country out of a slump will emerge from a nation such as Russia when circumstances warrant it, as does the emergence of someone like Putin, though his emergence itself is a contingency. The same can be said of Medvedev as well.

Russia's rejuvenation after years of efforts to put things back in order following the period of chaos caused by the breakdown of the Soviet Union was inevitable. Yeltsin "destroyed" the soviet-style socialism and threw the nation into years of "chaos" as a result.