Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin becoming president again? Two words: foregone conclusion.

After all, the current makeup of the Kremlin was scripted with precision by the two-term president, who made sure when he was forced out due to term limits that not only would a hand-picked puppet ascend to the presidency — technocrat Dmitry Medvedev — but that the once-doormat prime minister position became stronger than ever.

It was all part the grand scheme, as Putin demurely tries to whet the collective whistle by hinting that he would consider running for president again in 2012. “I will think about it; there is still enough time,” Putin said when asked in a four-hour (is he trying to rival Hugo Chavez?) television Q&A.

I guarantee you, though, that was in the forefront of his mind when he picked a civil servant without a cult-of-personality following to succeed him. When opposition forces were repressed with an iron first in the go-round that pushed Medvedev into office. When the Nashi hoodlums stepped up their campaign of intimidation against independent journalists after years of reporters who dared expose Kremlin corruption going missing or winding up dead. And when guiding the shifting dynamic with the United States, which now believes that Russia will actually help disarm Iran, to reassert the former Soviet bastion’s superpower status again.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Putin responded when asked if he was going to leave politics. All coy quotes aside, we don’t need to hold our breaths in anticipation. Putin will run. He will strong-arm Medvedev into not thinking he can take a shot at a second term. He will win by any means possible, and anyone brave enough to oppose Putin will have to watch his back. And freedom will continue to evaporate under this 21-century tsar.

(Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)