As if moving pieces around a chessboard, Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin on Monday put in place the structure to support their power-sharing "partnership".

The appointments were in many ways a balancing act. Liberals and hardliners won key positions. And while Mr Putin took several leading figures with him from the presidential administration that used to support him in the Kremlin to the government in Russia's "White House", Mr Medvedev was able to promote allies, too.