This is worth watching–Dmitri Medvedev has decided he is sick of playing Robin to Vladimir Putin’s Batman:

It was an innocuous sounding comment in what appeared to be a routine television interview. But in the six days since Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, described his feelings about taking the oath of office in May, the corridors of power have been buzzing.

“The final responsibility for what happens in the country and for the important decisions taken would rest on my shoulders alone and I would not be able to share this responsibility with anyone,” Mr Medvedev told an interviewer.

For a normal president in a normal country, such a remark would have been a statement of the obvious. But to a select few, it was a “dog whistle”, a message audible only to those Mr Medvedev wanted to hear.

Usually when discussing such matters he stresses his “consultation” with Vladimir Putin, the prime minister and former president, who all but installed Mr Medvedev in his job and is thought to take most of the big decisions. But this time Mr Medvedev stressed that he was the single constitutionally empowered decision-maker.

Kremlin watchers say this assertiveness seems to be part of a new pattern, with Mr Medvedev appearing frustrated that, in spite of his constitutional power as commander in chief, he is stuck in a subordinate role.

“An apprehension is growing on both sides, particularly the Putin side,” said Dmitry Simes, head of the Nixon Centre in Washington, who spent last week in Moscow.

If the incoming Administration is smart, it will move to take advantage of what appears to be a growing split between Medvedev and Putin to blunt various aggressive acts in the conduct of Russian foreign policy. I don’t know how much of a chance the Obama Administration will have to do this; perhaps the contretemps between Medvedev and Putin will be patched up in short order once Putin sics his goons on the Russian President. But it definitely appears to be an angle worth exploring.

Developing . . .