The fighting in Georgia has answered the question that world leaders have been asking since Vladimir Putin stepped down as President this year: who runs Russia?

The answer, of course, is Mr Putin. It came not from Moscow, but from Beijing – 4,500 miles away – where the Russian Prime Minister was watching the Olympics when Georgia mounted its assault on South Ossetia.

Attending the opening ceremony of the Games, Mr Putin strongly condemned the military attack and vowed retaliation. Only several hours later did President Medvedev, Mr Putin’s handpicked successor, take to the airwaves.

Mr Medvedev, Russia’s youngest leader since Tsar Nicholas II, has since held many meetings and issued numerous strong statements. As commander in chief, the decision to send Russian troops into South Ossetia – in the country’s first foreign invasion since Afghanistan – was at least formally Mr Medvedev’s. But, compared with his mentor, Mr Medvedev, an intelligent and mild-mannered lawyer, seemed decidedly lame. Russia’s toughest statements over the Georgian crisis have come from Mr Putin, who during his eight years in power thrived on his hard-man image.

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In Beijing, Mr Putin was able to talk directly to another Olympic visitor – President Bush – and still found time to pay Russian athletes a morale-boosting visit. Then he flew straight to Vladikavkaz, across the border from South Ossetia, to meet tearful refugees. Both moments received ample coverage on the country’s television evening news, adding to the impression of the former President as an indefatigable action hero.

It would be foolish to dismiss Mr Medvedev as a puppet. Those who know him well say that he is impressive and with time his authority will increase. He may still be in awe of his mentor, but Mr Putin genuinely trusts and respects him. The two are close. However, it should come as no surprise that Mr Putin is playing such a front-seat role in Russia’s clash with Georgia, for there is much more at stake than just the future of two tiny breakaway regions. Mikhail Saakashvili, the pro-Western Georgian President who came to power five years ago, is close to America and wants his tiny country to join Nato.

The prospect infuriates the Russians – especially Mr Putin, a former KGB officer. Mr Medvedev, by contrast, left university only three years before the end of communism and has no ties to the security services. He may agree with Mr Putin, but is not as deeply mistrustful of the West. Mr Putin intensely dislikes Mr Saakashvili, who has invited US special forces to train his army and sent Georgian soldiers to Iraq. He considers Mr Saakashvili a Washington stooge – as do most Russians – and sees Nato’s expansion as a cynical American manoeuvre to encircle and weaken Russia.

In Moscow, Mr Saakashvili’s move against South Ossetia was seen as greatly increasing Georgia’s chances of joining Nato. European members opposed a US push this year to bring Georgia into the alliance because the frozen conflict of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, its other breakaway region, had yet to be settled.

The Kremlin’s opposition to Washington’s plans and its new-found self-assertiveness were two key traits of Mr Putin’s eight-year presidency. Russia’s strong reaction to the crisis is meant to send a bullish message to Washington: “This is our backyard. Stay away. We know your game.”

It is hardly surprising that the man making the Kremlin’s point most forcefully is Mr Putin. It is a fight that he has been savouring for some time.

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