Russia has a new president and a new dual leadership structure.

Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russia's president Wednesday and promptly named his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, prime minister. Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov had resigned to make that possible.

Technically, there is no difference in the president-prime minister setup. Realistically, there could be a world of difference.

Mr. Putin is esteemed by the Russian people, who are used to a strong leader. Now they have two national leaders, and it will be interesting to see how the power is shared and wielded.

The 42-year-old Mr. Medvedev, a former corporate lawyer, has worked with Mr. Putin since the early 1990s and is his handpicked successor. He is the youngest Russian leader in nearly a century.

He takes office at a time when the Kremlin is firmly in control of the country. He will preside over a $1.3 trillion economy that is driven by high oil prices. Reuters cites the challenges he will face, including "rampant corruption, rising inflation, a falling population, sickly industry and agriculture, and increasingly tense relations with former Soviet neighbors and the West."

In his inaugural address, he pledged to strengthen "civil and economic freedoms." That is interesting because Mr. Putin, 55, has undermined many of those freedoms, the Wall Street Journal points out. Yet Mr. Medvedev's friends have said that he is a liberal.

Mr. Medvedev is expected to govern in Mr. Putin's shadow, at least in the beginning. That could change. But Vladimir Putin's place in history is assured and he could be a dominant political presence in Russia for years. He heads the United Russia Party, which controls Parliament.

Some analysts say Mr. Medvedev is free to create the civil society of which he speaks because Mr. Putin has stabilized the country. Time will tell.