Reuters Kremlin correspondent Oleg Shchedrov was the only reporter from a foreign media organisation allowed to travel with Russia’s likely next president Dmitry Medvedev on a flying visit to Serbia and Hungary on Monday. Here is what he saw and heard:

 Medvedev, at least for now, wears several hats: he is a first deputy prime minister, the chairman of Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom and Kremlin-backed frontrunner in Sunday’s presidential election. That makes life tricky at times for the reporters covering his trips.

“Which of the three are we following today?” is a question pool reporters frequently address to their Kremlin handlers. Often there is no straighforward answer. What looks like a business visit can turn out to be a campaign trip and the other way round.

But when Medvedev visited Serbia and Hungary on Monday, less than a week before the polls he is certain to win, there was no doubt: we were covering a presidential visit.

To start with, Medvedev flew in an Ilyushin-96 jet with the word “Rossiya” (Russia) written along the fuselage. His mentor and outgoing President Vladimir Putin uses a similar aircraft. To add to the presidential feel of the occasion, he was joined by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a man who does not usually accompany lowly first deputy prime ministers.

 ”Add a wreath-laying ceremony to the programme and you will get a full official visit,” one pool reporter said.

The agenda of the trip was clearly designed to demonstrate that Putin’s preferred successor was a mature politician ready to act on his own and handle the most sensitive issues normally reserved for the Kremlin leader.

In Belgrade, Medvedev delivered  a message of Russia’s support for Serbia in their defiance of Kosovo’s self-declared independence.

He emerged smiling from talks with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Dressed in blue suit and bright tie, he looked confident and spoke about future, with none of the references to Putin he frequently makes. His words and delivery left no doubt about who will be taking  the decisions.

In Belgrade, small crowds of people standing along the route of Medvedev’s convoy and near the venues of his visits applauded the  likely next Russian president. “Russia is good! Thank you, Dmitry!” some of them chanted.

His show of support for Serbia cannot fail to go down well with voters at home as well.  The vision of a Slav and Orthodox Christian country deliberately weakened by scheming Americans and Europeans is widespread among Russians, who project that scenario on to their own country’s relations with the West.

  In Hungary, Medvedev the hard-nosed negotiator was on display. After two hours of talks with Hungarian leaders, he emerged with an agreement that Budapest would join Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline.

This was a major coup: European Union member Hungary had been wavering between the South Stream project and the Nabucco pipeline, a rival scheme backed by the United States and the EU. South Stream is viewed by many in Russia as a proud symbol of their country’s new economic might and influence.

Before now Putin has led this sort of negotiation, with Medvedev playing second fiddle. Earlier this year for example, Putin took Medvedev to Bulgaria to sign a key document on construction of a Russian pipeline delivering Siberian gas under the Black Sea. But in Budapest, Medvedev was flying solo. His long apprenticeship is nearing its end.