She has a liking for sushi and expensive designer dresses that are a world away from the traditional frumpy image of the Soviet-era Kremlin wife.

Meet Svetlana Medvedeva, Russia’s new First Lady and wife of Dmitri Medvedev, the man certain to win tomorrow’s presidential election. Mrs Medvedeva is being touted as the graceful new face of Russia, a modern woman equally at ease hanging out at parties with pop divas or devoting herself to charitable work with the Orthodox Church.

The Medvedevs, both 42, come complete with a fairytale romance as childhood sweethearts who attended School 305 in Leningrad, now St Petersburg, and have known each other for 35 years. The couple married in 1989. Fittingly, Mrs Medvedeva’s teachers recall the blonde future wife of Russia’s head of state as the school’s beauty queen. Mr Medvedev said that he fell for her as a teenager in the 7th grade, adding: “I lost interest in lessons. It was much more interesting to hang out with my future wife.”

Moscow socialites are eagerly comparing her to the late Raisa Gorba-cheva, whose love of stylish clothes changed Western perceptions of Kremlin wives in the 1980s even as it roused the ire of ordinary Russians unused to seeing them in prominent public roles.

Mrs Medvedeva is likely to adopt a more high-profile role than Mr Putin’s wife, Ludmila, who has shunned the spotlight and is seldom seen with her husband at public functions. Mrs Putina, a former air hostess, has also been the target of catty remarks about her dowdy fashion sense.

She once disclosed that Mr Putin upheld two rules about domestic life, that “a woman must do everything in the home” and “you should not praise a woman otherwise you will spoil her”.

It is a view that resonates with many chauvinist Russians and Mr Medvedev, anxious to assert himself as a presidential figure, may want to avoid too prominent a role for his wife. He let it be known in a recent interview that, when their son, Ilya, was born in 1996, he insisted she should not go back to work. He explained: “It is the normal logic of a man who wants to have a strong and reliable support at his back. I explained [to Svetlana] that for the family, in my view, it would be better if the wife stays at home.” She obeyed. However, she is often seen at glamorous social events, including a fashion show in Milan and a birthday party thrown by Alla Pugacheva, the ageing queen of Russian pop.

Mrs Medvedeva, like her husband, is a devout Christian and heads a charitable programme backed by the Russian Orthodox Church to impart “spiritual values to the young”. Last year she was awarded the first medal of a new order established by the Church dedicated to “those women who have done sacrificial service for the good of the Church and the Motherland”.

Medvedev: life and times

1965 Born on September 14 in Leningrad

1996 Married to Svetlana Vladimirova Linnik. Son, Ilya, born the same year

1990 Leningrad State University; PhD in Private Law

1990-99 Assistant Professorship, St Petersburg State University

1990-95 Adviser to the chairman, Leningrad City Council

1991-95 Expert legal consultant on international relations, St Petersburg Mayor’s office

1999-2003 Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff

2000 In charge of Vladimir Putin’s campaign for presidency

2003-05 Presidential Chief of Staff

2000- Chairman of the Board; Gazprom

2005-08 First Deputy Prime Minister

December 2007 Putin anoints him as his successor, saying he “completely and fully" endorses the candidacy

Sources: International Who’s Who; Times archive

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