Putin shakes up govt, promotes Finance Minister

Putin shakes up govt, promotes Finance Minister
AGENCIES

MOSCOW, JANUARY 10: Russian acting President Vladimir Putin promoted Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to the crucial cabinet position of first Deputy Prime Minister on Monday, the Kremlin said.

A Kremlin spokesman said by telephone that Putin also demoted two existing first deputy premiers Nikolai Aksyonenko, who will keep his other job as Railways Minister, and Viktor Khristenko, who will be one of seven deputy Prime Ministers.

Putin, an ex-KGB agent and former head of Russia's FSB domestic security agency, became acting president on new year's eve when Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. Putin's popularity has grown largely because of the military campaign in Chechnya. He is the favourite to win the March 26 presidential election.

Putin formally remains the head of the government and many political analysts have said his choice of first deputy Prime Minister could give an indication of whom he might pick to be the premier if he wins the presidential poll. An English-speaking technocrat with strongties in the West, Kasyanov has been a leading figure in Russia's negotiations with foreign creditors.

The Kremlin spokesman said Emergencies Minister Sergeishoigu, head of the pro-Putin Unity Party which scored well in December's parliamentary election, was also made a Deputy Prime Minister. The spokesman said Putin sacked Pavel Borodin, an influential member of Yeltsin's Kremlin team.

Meanwhile, a Russian commander insisted his troops were in control Monday of the strategic Chechen towns of Argun and Shali, where fierce fighting was reported a day after Chechen rebels claimed to have recaptured the areas from Russian fighters. General Viktor Kazantsev, who commands Russian troops in the northern Caucasus, said on ORT television that his forces were in control of both Argun and Shali, despite Chechen claims to have taken the towns. "At this time, the situation is under control in Shali, Argun and near Mesker-Yurt," a village near Argun which Chechen rebels also claimed to have captured over the weekend,he said.

Kazantsev said that as of now in Argun "all the main positions are under Russian control, the troops there have been reinforced." "It's the same thing in Shali," said Kazantsev in the first remarks by a senior Russian official since the reported Chechen gains over the weekend. The ITAR-TASS news agency reported earlier Monday fierce fighting around Shali, southeast of the Chechen capital Grozny. Russian intelligence sources gave no details of losses on either side in the fighting, but said military reinforcements had been sent to the zone to help interior ministry forces fighting the Chechen rebels.