Medvedev wins Russia's presidential election

The editorialist Sandro Viola ponders Medvedev's victory in the elections. "For the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia is going to have a very different president. Medvedev is not a revolutionary by profession, nor a party member, or a product of bureaucracy. He isn't a former KGB or Army official either. With his training and knowledge of the economical world, he might be taken for a western politician. But he owes his entire career to Putin. Will he be able to act independently ? ... It is too early to say. Let us already note that his manner differs from Putin's, that he hasn't the smugness of Putin. Of course we cannot base hypotheses on somebody's appearance. But an appeasement of relations with the west is conceivable".

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