FACTBOX: Key quotes from Russia's Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's trusted protege Dmitry Medvedev is overwhelming favorite to win the March 2 presidential election.

The following extracts from Medvedev's speeches and interviews offer clues as to what sort of president he will be:

PRESIDENTIAL RULE:

"Our country was and remains a presidential republic. It cannot be any other way ... There cannot be two, or three or five centers (of power) ... The president is in charge of Russia, and under the constitution there can only be one president."

RUSSIA'S PLACE IN THE WORLD:

"If before we could ... build walls to insulate ourselves, in today's globalized world, when our states share, in effect, a common set of values, such cooperation should continue."

"It is necessary that the United States and Russian Federation cooperate ... It is inevitable."

"We are not asking anyone to love Russia, but we will not allow anyone to cause harm to Russia and we will get respect -- for the citizens of Russia and for our whole country, but not with force but by our own behavior and successes."

ON HIMSELF:

"I have a legal mindset which has pluses and minuses. The advantage is that it enables one to properly formulate aims and helps with decision taking. The disadvantage is that often I speak and explain myself more precisely than is needed. And from this there arises the feeling that before you stands a dry man buttoned up to the neck."

FREEDOM:

"I consider it most important to reach harmony between freedom and order in the long term. Empress Catherine II wrote: 'Freedom is the soul of everything, without it everything is dead. I want people to obey the laws, but not laws for slaves'."

"We're talking about freedom in all its forms -- personal freedom, economic freedom, and in the end, the freedom of self expression."

ECONOMY:

"We are not a rich country: we are a developing country, I would even say a swiftly developing economy, but we are not yet a rich country."

"No sort of state capitalism can be effective in the 21st century, we perfectly well understand that."