Bald–hairy

The current "bald–hairy" pair of Russian rulers are the balding Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, who has a full head of hair.

While this pattern is most likely a coincidence, it has held true since 1825, starting from Nicholas I (with the possible exception of Georgy Malenkov, who was Premier of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1955, but not First Secretary and at no point an uncontested leader).

However, some newsreel film of Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference showed that he was in the early stages of balding, lending controversy to the rule.

However, in the first months after the death of Stalin and before arrest, the greatest power was held by Minister of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria, who was bald.

Additionally, on the 5th of November 1996 Viktor Chernomyrdin was temporarily appointed as the official head of state while Yeltsin was undergoing a difficult surgery.

A similar situation was that of Gennady Yanayev: during the August coup, he actually headed the USSR for 3 days as the Acting President.

In the middle of the 1990s some humorously predicted that bald Gennady Zyuganov would "inevitably" win the 1996 presidential election and thus replace non-bald Boris Yeltsin.