President Medvedev’s non-committal comments regarding Vladimir Putin’s All Russia People’s Front at a radio interview yesterday confirmed to some minds the evidence of a breach between the Prime Minister and the President as the 2012 elections loom.  Which of the two men will run for president has been a primary topic for Russia analysts in recent weeks.  Today’s Financial Times has an extensive examination of the President’s plays for power in recent months, and considers to what extent he has been successful in maneuvering in a cabinet that remains largely loyal to Prime Minister Putin:

So it may have been especially satisfying for Mr Medvedev to force Mr Sechin out of his eyrie at Rosneft. On March 31 he issued a decree that cabinet ministers had to vacate board seats they occupied at state companies, eliminating untold privileges and conflicts of interest. A few weeks later, Mr Sechin duly stepped down.

It was a rare victory for Mr Medvedev. As the junior associate in the ruling “tandem” with Vladimir Putin – his more powerful, and more conservative, predecessor and mentor, who is currently prime minister – making good on his reform pledges has not always been easy.