Moscow Less than two weeks before elections that are likely to install him as Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev talked about his closely guarded personal life in a major interview with Itogi magazine, paid for by his campaign.

Seen by Russians as a low-key bureaucrat, Mr Medvedev, 42, the First Deputy Prime Minister, presents himself as an ordinary Russian from a modest blue-collar background. He grew up in a small apartment near St Petersburg, where his father taught at a polytechnic, and fell in love with his wife Svetlana when they were both teenagers. The family was always hard up so he paid for university by working on a building site and as a street sweeper.

His youth was not without its anarchic side. A fan of Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, Mr Medvedev dreamt of buying records and Levi's jeans, which at the time could only be found on the black market. At the age of 23, he was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church. “I took the decision myself,” he said. “From that moment, I believe, a new life started for me.” (Reuters)

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