There is, moreover, a precedent: Mr Putin himself, then an obscure ex-KGB lieutenant-colonel, was chosen by Boris Yeltsin to be prime minister in August 1999 and went on to succeed Mr Yeltsin as president at the end of the year.

• 而且，这也是有先例的：那就是普京自己，当初这个济济无名的前克格勃中校与1999年8月被叶利钦选为总理，继而在年底接替叶利钦成为总统。