Washington, D.C. ? Like the rest of an anxious world, President Bush said Thursday he’s waiting to see who will wield the real power in Russia after next month’s elections – departing President Vladimir Putin or his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev.

It will be interesting, the president mused, to see who shows up for Russia at the next summit of world leaders.

When Medvedev takes office, Putin will become prime minister. The suspicion is he will be the power behind the president.

When a questioner asked Bush if Medvedev would be Putin’s puppet, Bush replied, “No, I wouldn’t say that. That’s your conclusion, not mine.”

The uncertainty about the Kremlin’s new leadership comes at a time of difficult relations between Moscow and Washington in disputes ranging from Kosovo’s independence and Bush’s proposal for new missile defenses in central Europe to the Kremlin’s increasingly authoritarian stand on political, religious and press freedoms and the emergence of democracies on Russia’s borders.