Medvedev sworn in as Russia's president, but will he rule-

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Standing next to the new president during a ceremony Wednesday in a gilded Kremlin hall was his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, the man who nurtured Medvedev's rise to power and who will now be his prime minister.

The world waits to see whether the two can jointly rule this sprawling country, or whether, like the Byzantine crest, they will gaze in opposite directions.

Medvedev has promised to strengthen democratic freedoms and suggested he will move Russia in a more pro-Western direction, raising the hopes of those who want to see the country shift away from Putin's authoritarian rule.

But Putin spent his last weeks as president planning to strengthen the prime minister's role and assuming the chairmanship of the United Russia party, which dominates politics from the municipal level to the parliament.

Both Medvedev and Putin have dismissed concerns the dual leadership will lead to conflict and instability.

But Wednesday's ceremony in the glittering Andreyevsky Hall of the Kremlin Grand Palace, which overlooks the Moscow River, only emphasized the apparent contradictions between the 42-year-old president and his future prime minister.

While Medvedev spoke of economic and democratic development after taking the oath of office, Putin said in his own brief remarks that the Russian people "have many times defended their own path and their sovereignty."

The language echoed Putin's past allegations that Western democracies are trying to impose their political system on Russia as part of a campaign of surrounding and weakening the country.

Under the Russian constitution, the presidency has sweeping powers. But the powers of the prime minister's office are elastic, and Putin appears poised to expand them.

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