Russia’s two first de-puty prime ministers, Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, are frontrunners to succeed Vladimir Putin as president next year. But could a third candidate still emerge? Or could Mr Putin decide to change the constitution and stand for a third term?

Senior Kremlin officials say privately that Mr Putin has not decided whom to favour as his successor, as he has indicated he will. But with the end of Mr Putin’s second – and, under the constitution, final – political term less than a year away, the next president’s identity is the burning question of Russian political life.