Whereas Putin blasted NATO's plans to expand around Russia's borders, accused Washington of starting a new arms race with plans for a missile shield and to cut transport links to ex-Soviet neighbour Georgia, Medvedev mentioned none of these issues.
NATIONAL INTEREST
The essence of Russia's foreign policy, he said, would be to defend the national interest but it would be guided by "freedom, democracy and the right to private property".
Asked about criticism of Russia's foreign policy, Medvedev avoided Putin's oft-laid charges of Western hypocrisy and double standards.
Complaints were normal, he said - after all, Moscow also had its problems with other nations.
When asked about threats to Russia, he listed common global problems and then named poverty and corruption as specific problems for Russia.
Putin, who grew up in a rough neighbourhood where he chased rats down staircases, liked direct, earthy language, jokes and colloquialisms. But Medvedev's middle class upbringing as the child of university professors showed in his considered, lawyerly phrases laced with subordinate clauses.
When speaking about financial matters, Medvedev did not copy Putin's habit of reeling off statistics and specific policy initiatives, preferring to talk in more general terms.
On one point, however, the two men were at one.
When asked about government control over Russian media, Medvedev became more animated and said he "could not agree" with the question.
Russia's television channels, newspapers and websites were "absolutely free", he insisted, adding: "There are not today, have not been in the past and will never be problems of closedness of information in Russia".
That answer could have come straight from Putin.
