Will Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency mark the start of a promising new chapter in Russian history? Three weeks after his election victory, we cannot tell. Mr Medvedev offers a more attractive and approachable image than that of his KGB-bred predecessor, Vladimir Putin. But the 42-year-old president-elect is an unknown quantity while Mr Putin, as prime minister, is destined to remain a powerful Kremlin figure. Russian politics has always been mysterious and enigmatic – rarely more so than today.

Mr Medvedev’s interview with the Financial Times , published this week, was therefore an opportunity to unveil a personal prospectus. It was an opportunity he grasped. Mr Medvedev said he would work in “tandem” with Mr Putin but would himself be master of domestic and foreign policy. He made clear that he would defend Russia’s national interest abroad. But the interview revealed, above all, serious ambitions for domestic policy reform that deserve the west’s attention.