MOSCOW — Dmitry Medvedev takes over the Russian presidency Wednesday in the shadow of his mentor Vladimir Putin, whose central role at a glittering Kremlin ceremony will underline his intention to retain major power as prime minister. The inauguration of Russia’s third president in the turbulent 17 years since the Soviet collapse was set to take place before about 2,400 guests in the Kremlin palace, starting at midday (0800 GMT), a presidential spokesman told AFP. The brief but pomp-filled ceremony for Medvedev, 42, was to reflect the confidence of a Russian government riding an economic boom on the back of massive oil and gas exports. Putin has overseen that boom in his eight-year rule while rolling back many of the democratic experiments of the 1990s, according to critics. A rare anti-Kremlin rally late Tuesday was snuffed out in Moscow even before it began, with police detaining would-be protestors well ahead of the event and swamping the street where they had hoped to gather. The rally was organised by The Other Russia, an opposition group headed up by chess legend turned leading anti-Kremlin campaigner Garry Kasparov, who had been expected to attend the protest. The […]