Reuters correspondent Denis Dyomkin, who travelled with Dmitry Medvedev last week to the eastern city of Khabarovsk on Russia’s border with China,  reports:

Many in the West assume that First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a former St Petersburg lawyer anointed by President Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor, is more liberal than his tough mentor.

Is this true ? It is hard to say because Medvedev’s campaign presents him as a man who is coming to the Kremlin to carry out Putin’s plans rather than as a leader in his own right. Medvedev’s public image is devoid of any personal touch which could reveal the true nature of Russia’s likely next leader.

But Westerners forget that liberals are not popular in Russia, a country fond of strong leaders. The tag “liberal” is mainly associated here with two detested politicians — the architect of the country’s painful post-Soviet free market reforms Yegor Gaidar and Sergei Kiryeyenko, who chaired the government in 1998 when a disastrous economic crisis erupted. So Medvedev is anxious not to look like a liberal, at least when campaigning inside his country.

In Khabarovsk,  he presented himself as a tough Soviet-style boss who believes in the power of the big stick.

Asked by journalists how to handle Russia’s traditional evil — corruption –Medvedev showed no mercy.

“Repression does not always work, but in such cases villains should indeed go to jail,” he said. “Only this can stop corruption. Economic incentives will not work.”

In another tough guy gesture, the normally shy Medvedev lambasted regional officials  in Khabarovsk, clearly copying Putin’s stern style.

“When two state-owned companies cannot agree among themselves, people suffer,”  he told officials from energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft who could not agree a deal on a gas pipeline  “Consider that you have received a stern order (to solve the problem) “.

Later, he rejected an official’s explanations for delays in building an oil pipeline, saying: “I give the minister three days to send me his report and explain why things are dragging on.”

The new tough style does not always come naturally to Medvedev.

When chatter among participants at a Khabarovsk meeting got too loud, he called them to order with a mild: “Attention, colleagues!” — far softer than Putin’s trademark phrase for such occasions: “I want you to listen to what I say !”

But on the evidence of the Khabarovsk meetings, Medvedev should persevere with the tough style because it goes down well.

“Dmitry Anatolyevich, we enjoyed today a tough conversation at today’s meetings,” one local reporter told Medvedev.

“Did you really like it?” Medvedev asked. “Yes!” came the enthusiastic answer.