Former Kgb Agent Lines Up For Putin's Job
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday February 17, 2007
THE Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has promoted his Defence Minister in a surprising cabinet reshuffle, adding intrigue to the volatile question of who will succeed him in the top job next year.
Sergei Ivanov, 54, a former KGB officer who became the first civilian to head the country's military in 2001, will now serve as first deputy prime minister. This will give him the same rank and title as another closely watched presidential contender, Dmitri Medvedev, 41.On Thursday Mr Putin praised Mr Ivanov lavishly in a televised announcement, saying he "has fulfilled the tasks he faced as defence minister and fulfilled them successfully".Mr Ivanov and Mr Medvedev, who are friends and close aides from Mr Putin's home town, St Petersburg, have emerged as the leading candidates to replace Mr Putin when he completes a second and - by law - final term, culminating in presidential elections in March next year. "I think it is the formulation of the two candidates for the presidency of the Russian Federation in 2008," said Sergei Markov, the director of the Institute of Political Studies. The move, which went largely unexplained, like most of Mr Putin's actions, is certain to intensify speculation over which man he will ultimately endorse. That would be a virtual guarantee of his election, given Mr Putin's popularity and the centralised control of politics. Mr Putin also moved to settle another struggle for power on Thursday, in this case for control of Chechnya, the southern republic where Russian forces have largely crushed a separatist movement since 1994. Surfacing on television twice in one evening, Mr Putin accepted the resignation of Chechnya's President, Alu Alkhanov. With Mr Alkhanov's departure, Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic's Prime Minister and a man whose fighters have been broadly accused of rampant human rights violations, becomes the acting president. Mr Kadyrov and Mr Alkhanov have quarrelled openly in recent weeks.Mr Kadyrov is the son of Mr Alkhanov's predecessor, Akhmad Kadyrov, whom rebels assassinated in 2004. Last year the younger Kadyrov turned 30, the minimum age for the republic's presidency, and was widely assumed to be waiting in the wings for the top post. On the national level, Mr Putin said he was expanding Mr Ivanov's duties to include "a part of the civil sector of the economy", as well as the military industries that have undergone a significant consolidation under Mr Putin. Mr Medvedev had previously overseen economic and social issues, and will now have to share that portfolio. He is also chairman of the Russian energy giant Gazprom."Ivanov is an equal of Putin," said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies Russia's leaders. "He is no less clever. Ivanov has shown himself as a strong figure, capable of making firm decisions. But of course he could not just work on defence. He had to operate wider. This is the next step." However, Mr Markov said the undeclared race remained wide open, although the move could help Mr Ivanov by distancing him from the military, which remains scarred by accusations of corruption and a systemin which young draftees are brutally abused. Mr Ivanov faced intense public criticism last year following a particularly egregious hazing incident that left a soldier maimed.The reshuffle comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and the West. It also follows Mr Putin's broadside against the US in Munich last weekend, when he accused it of seeking to be the sole power centre in a "world of one master, one sovereign".That time Mr Ivanov, who speaks English fluently, supported his boss with a similarly hawkish speech. His promotion is a sign that Russia does not intend to buckle to foreign pressure.The New York Times, Guardian News & Media
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald