Some things are as predictable as the sun rising in the east. One such was Dmitry Medvedev winning Russia's presidential election Sunday.

Less predictable was his 70.2 percent margin of victory. One would have thought it would be larger, given that he was Vladimir Putin's longtime loyal friend, flunky and handpicked choice to succeed him as president. It didn't hurt either that all meaningful opposition was squashed like a bug.

Putin likely figured if his man won by 99.9 percent of the vote, like the old Communist dictators did, the result would not be credible. It wasn't credible anyway. A European parliamentary observer mission declared the election "flawed," a diplomatic way of saying the fix was in.

The president-to-be promptly announced Putin would be his prime minister. This was no surprise, either. Medvedev had already made that vow last December, when Putin first announced Medvedev was his man.

The real surprise would be if there's any change for the better in the Russian government's policies of being sympathetic to terrorist-supporting states, such as Iran and Syria, and trying to thwart U.S. anti-terrorist policies at nearly every turn.

Given Medvedev's amenable character and relaxed temperament, he should be significantly easier to deal with than the confrontational Putin. But conventional wisdom maintains that the new president will be the puppet, and Putin the puppeteer. In fact, it would be no surprise if all significant power shifts from the president to the prime minister.

Yet there are some who have a more optimistic outlook. When interviewed by Bloomberg Television on Monday, Mikhail Kasyanov, Putin's former prime minister, said he believes his former boss will hold the upper hand for the first six months or so, but after that Medvedev's hand should begin to strengthen.

Another Russian official, Igor Yurgens, told Bloomberg TV that dual leadership is unprecedented and not likely to last very long. He expects Medvedev to gradually gain control of the reins of power. "He is smart, sharp. intelligent and he knows the consequences of his steps."

From the U.S. point of view, if Medvedev rose to power, it would be good news indeed. Just about anybody would be better than Putin. But for now, it would be a real surprise if that happened.

The first clues to how the new Medvedev-Putin relationship is working out will be to see which one of them attends the industrial world's big economic summit coming up in several months. Don't be surprised if both of them turn up.