Dmitry Medvedev

Perhaps more than any other capital in the world, Beijing has closely observed the change of the guard in the Kremlin. There are many reasons for Beijing's concerns: Russia's revival as a major power, its petro-politics approach to foreign relations, managing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), not to mention the stability of the 4,300-kilometer Sino-Russian border.

Russia is a country with more than its fair share of idiosyncrasies, yet even by its standards tomorrow's presidential vote takes peculiarity to the extreme. Those Russians who choose to cast their ballots will be participating in an election that is not really an election, in order to choose a president who, most likely, will not really be a president.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his favored successor Dmitry Medvedev could take turns to run Russia for another quarter of a century, a senior Kremlin ally said in an interview published on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that he was willing to serve as prime minister under his protege Dmitry Medvedev, who is almost certain to be the country's next president.