Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

Lawyers for jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said they would call Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a witness to fight embezzlement charges they say are politically motivated. Khodorkovsky, a Kremlin critic who is serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion, appeared in court for the first day of a new trial that could keep him in prison for 22 more years. Earlier pretrial hearings were closed to the public. Supporters of Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, have blamed Putin's government for orchestrating the tycoon's first trial in 2005, saying it was part of a campaign to clip the wings of powerful businesspeople.

Soon, the curtain will rise. Backstage, sopranos' scales slip from dressing rooms and costume matrons fly down corridors on tiptoe, gowns and wigs slung over their shoulders. From the orchestra pit rises the piping of flutes, the saw of strings and the squall of brass. The pre-curtain flurry is a familiar rite in the iconic Bolshoi Theater, commissioned by Catherine the Great in the year of American independence.

This is no grand reinvention, just a subtle aggregation of small, surprising gestures. Still, recent conciliatory signals from Moscow are enough to make analysts believe that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Russia, the cash-rich, oil-soaked country that railed against the West while shutting down political opposition at home, is groping for new footing under heavy fiscal pressure.

Parliament's upper house unanimously approved extending Russian presidential terms, a constitutional amendment that has fueled speculation Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will return as head of state. The Federation Council endorsed a six-year term for future presidents, up from four. President Dmitry Medvedev, who proposed the changes, will sign the bill into law. Putin, president for eight years until May, has said he favors the change.

Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted overwhelmingly to lengthen the presidential term from four years to six, an action that opponents called a step toward Prime Minister Vladimir Putin returning to the office. The constitutional amendment faces two more votes but appears certain to be enacted. Political analysts and Kremlin foes predict that President Dmitry Medvedev could step down as early as next year, making Putin the acting president and triggering elections in which Putin would run and probably win.

The question has all but disappeared from Russian discourse after months of feverish debate: Who is in charge, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev? It's been nearly a year since Putin, faced with the end of his presidency, endorsed his long-loyal underling to succeed him in the Kremlin. The speculation that once rattled around the capital after Putin restyled himself as prime minister -- whether the two men would clash, whether Medvedev would try to eclipse his onetime mentor -- has fallen away.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev submitted a bill to extend Russia's presidential term from four years to six. If approved, the legislation means that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's predecessor, would be eligible for 12 more years in a second presidential stint. Putin was constitutionally barred from seeking a third straight term as president.