Is It Always Nice To Share

Russia's president-elect, Dmitry Medvedev, has insisted he will be making the key decisions in his power-sharing deal with Vladimir Putin.

Mr Medvedev won a landslide election victory this month and will replace Mr Putin, who is expected to become his prime minister, in May.

The president-elect told the Financial Times newspaper that the president and government had clearly defined roles.

He praised Mr Putin for adhering to the constitution in serving just two terms.

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Russia's new president, Medvedev, is clearly defining the roles that will be played by himself and Putin. The roles are supposedly very different. He also assure everyone that he will be the one making the important decisions. It will be inresting to see if this is really true.

Russia Sets Sail For a "Three Hour Tour"

While the presidential election proved entirely predictable, the transfer of power from Vladimir Putin to Dmitry Medvedev looks likely to be anything but.

This will be the first time in the country's history that a popularly elected head of state hands over power to another popularly elected head of state.

The lack of precedent is raising some curious constitutional questions over exactly how the Kremlin's impending round of musical chairs is going to work.

"There is not really any previous experience for what happens between an election and the moment the new president assumes power," said Mikhail Krasnov, an author of the Constitution.

While Medvedev is now president-elect and first deputy prime minister, Putin by law will remain president until May 7, exactly four years after his inauguration. Putin has said he will then become prime minister.

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Russia's already controversial election has become even more controversial. People are beginning to question the constitutionality of the new transfer of power. This questioning could hurt the legitimacy of Russia.

Russia Redefines Democracy

On the banks of the Moscow River, facing the Kremlin, there is a long squat grey-faced apartment block known as the House on the Embankment. It has a special place in Russia's history.

It was built by the early Bolsheviks when they moved the Russian capital back to Moscow from St Petersburg.

It housed the families - more than 500 of them - of high-ranking Kremlin officials. They were the bureaucratic elite of the world's first attempt at a socialist state. It was, in its day, the only house in all Russia to have hot running water.

A decade ago, when I lived here as the BBC's Moscow correspondent, I went to visit one of its residents. She'd lived there since 1931. More than anything she remembered the Red Terror of 1937.

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From This article we learn about some of the injustices of Russia's past. We also get an account of Stalin's secret police rampages. The House on the Embankment has played an important part in Russia's history and has witnessed alot.