Not much love, according to most Kremlin watchers, is lost between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Igor Sechin, deputy prime minister. On their few appearances together on television the disdain has been obvious, right down to bulging neck veins. Higher-ups at Rosneft, the state oil company of which Mr Sechin was chairman, have been known to refer to the president’s circle derisively as “the boy scouts” behind their backs.

So it may have been especially satisfying for Mr Medvedev to force Mr Sechin out of his eyrie at Rosneft. On March 31 he issued a decree that cabinet ministers had to vacate board seats they occupied at state companies, eliminating untold privileges and conflicts of interest. A few weeks later, Mr Sechin duly stepped down.

It was a rare victory for Mr Medvedev. As the junior associate in the ruling “tandem” with Vladimir Putin – his more powerful, and more conservative, predecessor and mentor, who is currently prime minister – making good on his reform pledges has not always been easy.