The Soviet Union is gone, but the Russian Federation officially claims to be its successor state, and many of the policies of the former president and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, have been called a Soviet renaissance in all but name. What now of Dimitri Medvedev, Mr. Putin’s handpicked successor as president?

First, let us eschew wishful thinking and let a future that no one can predict begin to run its course. There are several variables that make prognosticating especially perilous in this instance. The first is that Mr. Medvedev’s entire political career before his elevation to the presidency –– in effect single-handedly by Mr. Putin –– was Mr. Putin’s creation. In one scenario President Medvedev is Mr. Putin’s puppet, serving at his sufferance until he reclaims the presidency at a time of his choosing.

But, as King Henry II found when he named (now St.) Thomas à Becket archbishop of Canterbury, and as many American presidents have found in naming Supreme Court justices, high office can turn a seeming minion into something quite different.

The best evidence that Mr. Medvedev might really be to Mr. Putin what Mikhail Gorbachev was to Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko (Mr. Gorbachev’s geriatric immediate predecessors) is that he and Mr. Putin are of such different backgrounds. Mr. Putin was a KGB man, as, it is believed, were his father and grandfather. Mr. Medvedev is from a family of academics, and has a Ph.D. in law.

Evidence that he thinks differently than Mr. Putin may be inferred from his magnificent 16-paragraph inaugural address, in which he began, “I have just sworn the presidential oath . . . and its very first lines pledge respect and protection of human rights and freedoms . . . It is for this reason that I consider it my greatest duty to continue to develop civil and economic freedom.”

These were neither the words nor the policy of Vladimir Putin. The words are very encouraging. For President Medvedev’s policies we must wait and see.