Dmitry Medvedev crushed his opponents and won the presidential elections to become Russia’s new president. However, his landslide victory was overshadowed by rigging accusations.

Medvedev, formerly Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, was voted by 70.2 percent of voters. The nearest of his three rivals was Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who was voted by 17.8 percent, according to the central elections commission.

Accusation regarding the legitimacy of the voting process came from some other presidential candidates as well as from outside Russia. Most analysts were expecting Medvedev to win by a landslide especially after he received Putin’s “blessing” and returned the favor by saying that the former president should become Russia’s Prime Minister to maintain the government’s efficiency.

When asked about the legitimacy of the presidential elections, the chief of the sole Western observer mission answered that Russia's "democratic potential" was unfulfilled.

"The results of the presidential election are a reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was unfortunately not tapped," said Andreas Gross, from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The billion-ruble question regarding Medvedev is whether will he actually rule Russia, or he’ll just be Putin’s man.

Medvedev’s victory was celebrated with a rock concert in Moscow’s Red Square, where the country’s current president accompanied the new one and both were revered by the thousands of Russians – mostly young – as if they were rock stars.

At 42, Medvedev will become Russia’s youngest leader since Tsar Nicholas II and, unlike Putin, he’ll be the first president after the Bolshevik Revolution not to have risen to power through the Communist Party or the KGB.

"The most interesting time will be during the spring. I have the impression that he is more independent than he appeared at first," said the Carnegie Moscow Center analyst Alexei Malashenko, AFP reported.

Nevertheless, in the first news conference after the poll, Medvedev described his future policy as “a direct continuation of that path which was carried out and is being carried out by President Putin.” He added that the partnership with Putin will give Russia "rather interesting results" due to the fact that the two have long worked together.