Within hours, the Internet was littered with speculation about the apparent rift between the two leaders ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Could the “spat” have been pre-planned? Or is Medvedev attempting to outbid Putin to try to stay in power? Yevgeny Minchenko, director of the International Institute for Political Expertise answers these questions and explains why we should avoid giving two-dimensional assessments of the ruling pair.

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