Medvedev: cautious lawyer bound for the Kremlin

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev is President Vladimir Putin's most trusted ally but does the former corporate lawyer have the right stuff to rule the Kremlin?

Putin has used his huge popularity to ensure Medvedev victory in Sunday's presidential election and his elevation in May to the Kremlin's top job.

Former colleagues describe the 42-year-old as a brilliant lawyer who dislikes risk and is devoted to Putin, qualities which will count for much if, as expected, he appoints his former boss prime minister.

But some have questioned whether Medvedev has the ruthless political instincts needed to rule the Kremlin's clans and the world's biggest country.

His presidency -- at least at first -- is likely to be defined by his relationship with his mentor, who says he will serve as prime minister under a President Medvedev.

"I think he is a well-prepared, educated and modern. He has good experience as a lawyer, he's bright, but there is one drawback, he didn't work at the federal level long enough," the last Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, said as he cast his ballot.

Medvedev, who admits he seems "buttoned-up" in public, will become Russia's youngest leader since the last emperor, Tsar Nikolai II, who the former corporate lawyer says he admires.

"Dima is clever, clever enough to be president and he is tough, tough enough to be president," one former colleague from the 1990s told Reuters on condition his name was not published.