MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin congratulated his handpicked successor on his apparent presidential election victory yesterday and said the win would guarantee the continuity of the course Mr. Putin set for Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, who garnered more than 69 percent of the vote with 80 percent of precincts reporting, appeared alongside his mentor in Red Square and vowed to pursue Mr. Putin’s policies.
“Such a victory carries a lot of obligations,” Mr. Putin said from the open-air concert stage outside the Kremlin.
“This victory will serve as a guarantee that the course we have chosen, the successful course we have been following over the past eight years, will be continued,” he said.
Mr. Medvedev thanked voters and vowed to pursue the policies of Mr. Putin. The two have said they would rule in tandem, with Mr. Putin becoming prime minister, the second-highest post in Russia.
“We will be able to preserve the course of President Putin,” Mr. Medvedev said.
The campaign had been drained of suspense but full of speculation that Mr. Medvedev may take orders from Mr. Putin, even as his boss.
Mr. Medvedev’s resume depicts a dedicated aide who has marched in a lock step with Mr. Putin and his policies.
Mr. Putin, 55, and Mr. Medvedev, 42, first worked together for a former law professor who became head of the City Council in Leningrad — now St. Petersburg — in 1990.
Mr. Putin brought Mr. Medvedev to Moscow in 1999, shortly before Boris Yeltsin stepped down and handed over the presidency.
Mr. Medvedev joined Mr. Putin’s staff and ran his first presidential campaign in 2000.
Promoted to chief of staff in 2003, Mr. Medvedev — who presents himself as a champion of free markets — toed the line during the trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which sent shock waves through the business community and heralded a new era of state intervention in the economy.
Mr. Khodorkovsky’s trial and the dismantling of his oil company, Yukos, were widely seen as a Kremlin campaign to punish the billionaire for challenging Mr. Putin.
Mr. Medvedev also had helped Mr. Putin pass laws strengthening the Kremlin’s control over Russian politics in the name of security after the deadly Beslan school seizure by Islamic militants in 2004.
As chairman of the natural-gas giant OAO Gazprom, Mr. Medvedev had helped Mr. Putin in restoring Kremlin control over the massive monopoly, which many in the West have accused Moscow of using as a tool in its quest for geopolitical clout.
In 2005, Mr. Putin named Mr. Medvedev one of his two first deputy prime ministers, positioning him alongside Sergei Ivanov as his possible successor.
Mr. Medvedev has said little about his childhood or recreational activities.
As an only child, he sometimes struggled as a student — in part, he said, because he spent too much time courting his future wife, Svetlana. The two have a teenage son.
During a televised Kremlin dinner in January, he said he enjoyed the book “Jules Verne.” He also adores Deep Purple, the British rock group he hung out with when they played a recent private concert in Russia.
Mr. Putin’s KGB roots have bolstered his image as a steely leader whose bottom-line concern is Russia’s security and strength.
Mr. Medvedev’s legal background has found an outlet in his emphasis on the need for the rule of law and independent courts.
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