Regrettably enough, Ukraine’s image created by the Russian mass media and Russia’s image as created by the Ukrainian mass media are far from the truth. So what is Russia really like today?

The president has named a successor who embodies two key qualities. Medvedev is both loyal enough to allow Putin to continue de facto rule, and weak enough to avoid upsetting the delicate balance among the warring clans of security-service veterans.

The idea is to create a sort of super-prime minister role for Putin. Putin can then turn over the diminished presidency to Zubkov or another obedient successor.

OLEKSIY POLTORAKOV

The maiden foreign trip of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indicates that Moscow prefers to unite with the East against the West.

ALEKSANDR RAHR

Vladimir Putin’s visit to France is quite unique. In a week new Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is to arrive in France and Germany. It looks like Prime Minister Putin overshadows President Medvedev. During his visit to Paris Vladimir Putin shows the world leaders that he is in charge of the Russian foreign policy.

Eurasian Home publishes the results of the "G7 Citizens Critical of Putin’s Impact on Russian Democracy: BBC poll " conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the international polling firm GlobeScan for the BBC World Service.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) publishes the article "The Russian Phenomenon of Disposable People" by Arbën Xhaferi, Member of Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.

Georgia has resolutely condemned Russia’s actions in Chechnya. Russia has severely criticized NATO actions towards Serbia. Later on the Georgian authorities tried to do the same thing in South Ossetia as the Russian authorities had done in Chechnya. Moscow decided to treat Georgia in the same way as NATO had treated Serbia.

There was a game we played when I was a child where you would run to the top of the nearest hill, sand dune or rampaging Tyrannosaurus Rex (kids had more imagination in those days) and shout “I'm the King of the Castle and you're the dirty rascal.” These last words were said whilst pointing at the poor unfortunates who had failed to get to the top in time.

The good people of Vladivostok recently had the chance to see my mug on their televisions. Or the chance not to watch it. Anyone further west however was denied that chance after NTV pulled reporter Andrei Loshak's documentary from the schedule even though it had already been shown in the Far East.

The Russian foreign policy boringly runs around in circles: the row with Estonia on the historic past, the squabbles between Moscow and Kyiv over the Crimea and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the confrontation with Georgia because of its breakaway republics etc. After having made a full circle we are back to square one - another conflict with Georgia.

The English military leader John Talbot died at the Battle of Castillon, because he had entered the battlefield wearing no armor. Sir John understood quite well, what could be caused by such a neglect of own safety, but he had no choice. Shortly before that, when he was released from captivity, he promised “never to wear armor against the French King again.”

Who would think that a banal song contest like Eurovision can trigger new round of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. When Kyiv won the right to host the finals of the 50^th Eurovision contest, Moscow was sick with envy and spent millions to catch up with the Western neighbor. It cost Russia several expensive but futile attempts. And finally at Eurovision 2008 Russian pop singer Dima Bilan won the contest.

Despite the propaganda declarations that Russia has finally “risen from the knees” and “returned its status of a superpower”, the Kremlin’s foreign policy is still characterized by inconsistency and complete absence of strategic planning. True, there has been perceptible change since the 1990s – the Kremlin has become more independent in decision-making, the Russian elite are aware of the state interests.

I don’t envy Putin’s successor. He will come to power despite the fact that the majority of Russians want Putin to stay on. He will have the irritating presence of Putin, still young and healthy, somewhere behind him. He will no doubt hear constant negative comparisons between his rule and the golden age of Putinism, and constant calls for Vladimir Vladimirovich to return and lead the country back to glory.

I managed to sneak into a private speech that Dmitri Medvedev, deputy prime minister of Russia, gave to around 100 editors at the World Editors Forum in Moscow. He launched into a rather boring speech about the Russian economy, when the interpreter ear-pieces broke down. So his speech was abandoned and we went straight to questions from the floor instead.