MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir V. Putin anointed a successor Monday, assuring his nation that a longtime confidant who is chairman of the massive state-controlled gas company would steer the Kremlin along the path the incumbent has set for the last eight years.
Dmitry Medvedev, a 42-year-old first deputy prime minister who rode Putin's coattails to the Kremlin, has long been regarded as a possible successor. If elected in March's vote, he will become Russia's youngest president.
Medvedev is generally regarded as a moderate official with a slightly pro-Western tilt, but he has largely avoided making strong impressions during his years in the public eye. In a measure of the uncertainty that pervades public discussion of Moscow's famously murky power plays, analysts questioned whether he is strong enough to hold his own amid the Kremlin's clashing factions, whether he can shake off Putin's shadow, and what Putin has in mind for his own second act.
The wildly popular Putin will finish his second term in office next year and is banned by law from seeking a third consecutive term. The country, enjoying strong growth fueled by surging petroleum prices, has been waiting anxiously for him to name a successor.
"The moment when Putin points his finger and says, 'I support this guy,' this moment means a lot," said Lilia Shevtsova, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. "The elite, the observers, the business community will all be rushing toward this new leader."
On the surface, Medvedev and Putin cut radically different profiles. Putin rose quietly through the ranks of the KGB and was a virtual unknown when Boris N. Yeltsin chose him as his successor in 1999. Medvedev has no known ties to the intelligence services and has served in a series of high-profile jobs under Putin.
But some analysts question how different the two men really are, and wonder how difficult it will be for Medvedev to become his own man.
Medvedev's ties to Putin stretch back to the early 1990s, when they worked together in the St. Petersburg mayor's office. Years later, Medvedev served as a high-ranking official in Putin's first presidential campaign. And when his old friend was elected, Medvedev reaped the benefits: He rose to chief of Putin's staff and chairman of the board at Gazprom, the natural gas company.
