Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in...

"Vladimir Putin was right about the blood," Medvedev joked. "We really have the same blood type in the medical sense of the word, recent tests have shown this,"

Putin has retained much power as premier and is believed by many to have played the first fiddle in the tandem.

Medvedev, seen as more liberal politician than Putin, has recently come to the foreground with an independent political line. He has pledged to curb corruption and the economic backwardness that he says is threatening Russia"s future.

MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti)