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Yes, but where is Putin limiting presidential power? He had no need to do so because he controlled Medvedev.

re: Putin controlled Medvedev

Well, some people say that under Medvedev Russia was a bit friendlier with USA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_reset

I'm not sure that points highlighted in that article would happen if Putin was president (allowing U.S. forces fly over Russia, supporting Iran sanctions, reducing nuclear arsenals, U.S. dropping plan to build a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe).

Re US dropping the shield - AFAIK that was because of local population opposing it (here in Czechia the argument was that we'd become prime nuclear strike target), not because of anything with Russia or the US itself.

The other stuff - seems just like Putin thought "well let them think Russia has changed".

It’s a complex set of checks and balances in which Putin checks Putin’s puppets, who balance their ability to check Putin with their ability to survive polonium.

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