Medvedev becomes Russia’s leader
In May of 2008, Dmitriy Anatolievich Medvedev became the President of Russian Federation. The previous President – Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who was in power of 8 years, became the Prime Minister of Russia. According to Russian law, President stands above Prime Minister, but in reality it was opposite – Putin was (and is) still in power. In Russia, Medvedev is viewed as Putin’s puppet that follows his orders. Because a President in Russia cannot serve for more than 8 years in a row, Putin stepped back and became a president, announcing his successor to be Dmintriy Medvedev. And even before the elections, entire Russia knew who would win them (in Russia people always know who will win the elections even before they happen). Medvedev was chosen by Putin for several reasons. One of them is that both of them have been friends for a long period of time, and Putin knew that he would be able to stay in power even after Medvedev will become president. The second reason is that Putin had to find a person who is shorter than him in order to show the country that he still has power – Putin’s height is 170cm, while Medvedev’s height is only 163cm!
So, after Medvedev’s term as a President will end, Putin will become the new President for another 8 years (and the entire country already knows this), and once again will be officially viewed as the leader of Russia.