Putin firms grip with promotion of key allies

Published on 15/11/2005 01:16

VLADIMIR Putin, the president of Russia, reshuffled his cabinet yesterday by promoting two key confidantes who are now seen as front-runners to succeed him at the end of his term in 2008.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin chief of staff, and Sergie Ivanov, the defence minister, were both named as deputy prime ministers, further tightening presidential control over the machinery of government.

The two men are also long-time colleagues of Mr Putin. Mr Ivanov, 53 became friends with Mr Putin when both served as colonels in the KGB.

Mr Medvedev, a 40-year-old lawyer, first worked alongside Mr Putin in the administration of St Petersburg's first elected mayor in the mid-1990s.

The move further concentrates power in a government where decisions are increasingly made inside the Kremlin.

Mr Putin's United Russia party dominates parliament and is seen as a rubber-stamp for Kremlin policies, while the government headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov is expected to follow Kremlin instructions.