Will new face of Russian power spells the end of 'KGB Raj'?

Tue, May 13 10:15 AM

The new cabinet ministers and key officials of Kremlin administration appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev could spell the end of KGB Raj even as his mentor and predecessor Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB man, retains his clout as the prime minister, the number two job in the hierarchy.

In the rebooting of the Kremlin power matrix Putin's old-time KGB friends like FSB director General Nikolai Patrushev and Anti-narcotics Agency Viktor Cherkessov have lost their jobs.

Both, Patrushev and Cherkessov, belonged to the rival groups of "Siloviki"(power ministers) inside the Kremlin and were involved in infighting to retain their clout ahead of the presidential polls. Cherkessov even went to media to wash the dirty linen in public.

His mentor, in the Kremlin clan, Justice Minister Vladimir Ustinov lost the job in the new power configuration.

He himself was sacked from the powerful post and transferred to the cabinet to serve as the Chief of the Arms Procurement Agency for the defence services under Prime Minister Putin.

Medvedev appointed FSB Chief Patrushev as the Secretary of National Security Council -- a post whose importance totally depends on the will of Russian President.

Many, including Putin, held this post in the past.

Leader of the another rival Kremlin clan and Rosneft oil major chairman, an ex-KGB man Igor Sechin has been moved to Russian White House with Putin to look after a wide range of issues including non-military industry and energy resources as vice premier.

Another former KGB operative Sergei Ivanov, whose name was doing rounds along with Medvedev as Putin's successor, has been demoted to the simply vice premier from his earlier post of First Deputy Prime Minister.

At the cabinet meeting Putin had clearly defined the charges of all the vice premiers but did not mention the areas to be looked after by Ivanov.

In a parallel development President Medvedev abolished the post of deputy chairman of the Military Industry Commission which was held by Ivanov's subordinate and ally Vladislav Putilin.

Appointment of ex-premier Viktor Zubkov, a Soviet-era agricultural technocrat and liberal Igor Shuvalov without KGB background, as first deputy prime ministers indicates the need of the hour of innovative transformation and modernisation of the former Communist nation into an affluent modern society based on liberal values.

When Putin came to power in December 1999, amid the chaos of the Soviet collapse, he hardly could depend on any political or any other forces except his former KGB colleagues or corrupt bureaucrats.

Putin, in past eight years of his rule, was himself seems to be eager to contain the influence of his former KGB colleagues in the power structures. Anyway it was not Medvedev's but Putin's choice to pick a liberal successor to move ahead with the liberal development of the country.

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