Minutes after his unanimous election as leader of United Russia, Vladimir Putin stood with party delegates yesterday as the anthem of the Soviet Union reverberated around the hall.

President Putin restored the music as Russia's national anthem in 2000, but it intensified a sense of déjà vu for those watching on television. The stage was blue instead of red, but the “party of power” was slavishly endorsing one-man rule.

Lenin called it democratic centralism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. United Russia calls it Putin's Plan and a “national leader” forging a middle-class road to global greatness.

With his protégé Dmitri Medvedev installed in the Kremlin and United Russia dominating the Duma, Mr Putin will retain a firm grip on the levers of power after he steps down as President on May 7.

He had refused to amend the Constitution to allow him a third consecutive term, deeming it undemocratic. Instead, like his Soviet predecessors, Mr Putin appears ready to rule through control of party structures while Mr Medvedev is reduced to a figurehead president.

Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev insist that they will govern harmoniously, but Russia's vast bureaucracy traditionally responds to a single, all-powerful ruler.

Many predicted turf wars between rival camps around the two men. Mr Putin appears to accept the danger by gathering sufficient power in his hands to make clear who will really be in charge.

The prospect of Mr Putin returning to the Kremlin in 2012, after four years as head of United Russia, is enough to sow doubt in the minds of state apparatchiks about transferring their loyalty entirely to Mr Medvedev.

As a former KGB agent, Mr Putin is trained to anticipate and expect betrayal. He has everyone in Russia's system of power exactly where he wants them —- off balance and unsure of his next move.

This element of fear gives Mr Putin room to rule for as long as he wants. Only he knows precisely how long the Putin era will be.

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