The inauguration of Dmitriy Medvedev and the confirmation already the next day of Vladimir Putin as Chairman of the Government have evoked a mass of comments on the emergence of a supposed diarchy situation, unprecedented for Russia's political practice. The Premier does not cede any ground to the President with respect to his political heft, which makes a conflict of branches of power inevitable. One would like to note, with all dues responsibility: No diarchy has appeared in our country, and the situation has numerous precedents.

A classical diarchy has existed only once - in 1917. At that time, after the deposition of Nikolay II, the Provisional Government took upon itself the executive and legislative branches of power; it had, in essence, not been elected by anyone, and did not concern itself with its own legitimization even on the part of the State Duma. Immediately, into a clinch with the government went self-proclaimed parallel bodies of direct popular rule, in the person of the Soviets, consisting of activists of the socialist parties, representing in the best case some enterprise or military unit, but often representing themselves personally. In the country there was a lack of any constitutional or other legal field, since all decisions on the building of the state and the power structure had been postponed until the Constituent Assembly, which never ended up getting down to work. As a result, the fight among the authorities, which was not infrequently personified, aside from all else, by diametrically opposite social interests, took on open and all-encompassing forms and ended in the victory of the Soviets after their massive-scale Bolshevization. The result was a dictatorship of the proletariat lasting three-quarters of a century.

So now tell me, what is there in common between the present situation within the Russian power structure and a diarchy? Nothing. All of the branches of power are elected or formed in accordance with constitutional norms; they do not oppose one another. Friendly human relations exist between Medvedev and Putin. There will, no doubt, be attempts to "separate" the two leaders. But, even if differences of opinion arise between them, we will not learn about them. These are not people who will make their relations open to the public. Putin's state caliber, considering his experience, rating, and leadership in United Russia, is great, but that does not make him unprecedented in the ranks of Russia's Premiers.

There have been more than a few instances when the political heft of the head of government has been very high, has not taken a back seat to that of the head of state, or has even surpassed it. Moreover, the state system functioned better when matters stood exactly that way. That is how it was both in the Russian Empire and during the Soviet Union, which in many respects reproduced its state model, and also in modern Russia, which retains traditional features of internal power.

The government in the modern sense, like the post of Premier, emerged in our country in 1905. And it immediately recommended itself as a very effective and influential player under the leadership of such strong chairmen as Sergey Witte and Petr Stolypin. Under much weaker Premiers - Ivan Goremykin, Boris Shtyurmer, Nikolay Golitsyn - the quality of the state administration fell noticeably. Numerous examples of strong premierships are also yielded by Soviet history. Head of government Vladimir Lenin was more influential than head of state Yakov Sverdlov. Quite broad were the powers of Premiers Vyacheslav Molotov and Iosif Stalin during the "presidency" of Mikhail Kalinin. A powerful chairman of government was Aleksey Kosygin, to whom by right are attributed many achievements of the Brezhnev era. And when did the machinery of state during the time of Boris Yeltsin really start to work? Under the Premiers Yevgeniy Primakov and Vladimir Putin.

Putin will be a very strong chairman of government, much stronger than his own model of 1999. But that does not mean that Medvedev will end up being a weaker president as a result. On the contrary, Dmitriy Anatoliyevich, supported by Vladimir Vladimirovich, is a much more influential leader than without that support. Now the adversaries of the head of state know that they will have to deal not only with him, but also with Putin. And that automatically decreases the number of adversaries.

In addition, our Constitution does not provide for a weak President. The head of state in Russia is the guarantor of the Constitution and the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the Supreme Commander in Chief. He ensures the coordination of the functioning of the bodies of state power, determines the basic directions of internal and external policy, and represents Russia within the country and in international relations. The President, with the consent of the Duma, appoints the Premier, the Deputy Prime Minister, the ministers, and the head of the Central Bank, and dismisses them. He presents for appointment to the Federation Council the candidacies for the justices of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Arbitration Court, and the General Prosecutor, and appoints the judges of other federal courts. The head of state forms and heads the Security Council, forms the Administration of the President, appoints and dismisses from office the plenipotentiaries, the top command of the Armed Forces, and the ambassadors. He may, in cases provided for in the Constitution, dissolve the State Duma, declare martial law and states of emergency, and reverse decisions made by bodies of executive power of the regions if they contradict the Basic Law. And this is far from a complete list of the President's prerogatives. If one forgets about padishahs, tsars, dictators, and secretaries general, then no one in the world has such an
extensive selection of constitutional powers.

A weak presidency in Russia is impossible by definition. A powerful and popular President working in tandem with a powerful and popular Premier is a case that really is rather unique. But after all, in a strong state, that is how it should be.