January 04, 2009	Sunday	Muharram 06, 1430

MOSCOW, Jan 3: For the last months, Kremlin watchers have intensely examined the burning question — who actually runs Russia? President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin?

On Saturday, one aspect of the mysterious division of labour between Russia’s two most powerful men became clear — it is the president who foots the bill when they go out for a drink.

After taking tea in a mountain hut during a day of alpine skiing at the Krasnaya Polyana resort outside the southern city of Sochi — the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics — it was Medvedev who paid the bill.

“The president pays for everything,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying.

“That’s my job,” replied Medvedev.

The apparently light-hearted exchange comes ahead of a year where every aspect of the relationship between the two men is going to be intensely examined.

Putin ceded the presidency to Medvedev in May 2008 after a maximum eight consecutive years in the Kremlin.

He has since become a powerful prime minister and many analysts suspect Putin still harbours presidential ambitions. Nevertheless, Medvedev has also insisted that he is his own man.

Whether as prime minister or president, Putin has always been happy to show off his prowess in alpine skiing, a favoured sport for many of the middle-class Russians who prospered under his rule.

The television pictures of Medvedev skiing alongside him indicate that the new president is keen to continue this trend.

The Russian capital Moscow late on Friday hosted an international parallel slalom race in a bid to show that the country is ready to host the world’s best in Sochi for the Olympics.—AFP