MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a series of new government and state appointments at a Cabinet meeting Monday.
Dmitry Medvedev, 40, who had previously headed the Kremlin administration and is still the chairman of the Gazprom giant's board of directors, was made first deputy prime minister.
Putin said Medvedev, the first deputy chairman of the presidential council, which oversees national projects addressing the most acute problems, i.e. healthcare, education, housing, and agriculture, would now take charge of the government's efforts in that domain.
"As I told you from the beginning that main efforts must be concentrated within the government," Putin said.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, 53, one of the influential "Petersburg group" that came to prominence under Putin, was appointed deputy prime minister, and will retain his current post.
"Last week Defense Ministry officials expressed concern over the problems the ministry was facing in the implementation of its development plans," Putin said. "These problems are due to the lack of coordinated actions between different ministries and departments. The prime minister made a relevant proposal - to appoint Sergei Ivanov, [while] retaining [his] defense minister post, a deputy prime minister for better coordination in this sphere."
Sergei Sobyanin, 47, the governor of the Tyumen region in Siberia and a member of the ruling United Russia party, was appointed the new head of the Kremlin administration. Sobyanin was elected governor in January 2001 with more than 50% of the vote.
"Effective work can only be developed at the federal level through joint activity between the government and the administration," Putin said.
Putin said most of Russia's national wealth lay in Siberia and that people from the area knew best how to make the most of it, which made the Tyumen governor a logical choice for the Kremlin administration.
Putin also told the meeting that Bashkir prosecutor Alexander Konovalov had been appointed presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, replacing Sergei Kiriyenko, who had been given other duties.
Kamil Iskhakov, the 56-year-old former mayor of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, was named envoy to the Far East Federal District, taking over for Konstantin Pulikovsky.
In response to the government reshuffle, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the president of the Politika foundation, said the appointments clearly meant the strengthening of president's grip on power.
"First of all, I would describe it as an obvious strengthening of the president's component in the Russian government, as the president's desire to establish tighter control over the government's work through his closest aides, Medvedev and Ivanov, and to ensure the implementation of the president's projects," he said.
Director of the Institute for Political Studies Sergei Markov said the new appointments "did not reflect the changes in the president's policy, but rather the strengthening of the government."
"The president, I believe, was concerned about public criticism of the government," he said. "In these circumstances, he was worried about the implementation of nation-wide projects. He certainly would not want them to be carried out according to the monetization law model. Russia desperately needs these projects, but they could bring the possibility of a breakthrough or a failure."
Both experts agreed that the new appointments indicated the president's heightened attention towards the defense and energy sectors. They also said the new appointees were capable of accomplishing the goals set by the president.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Communist party (KPRF) Gennady Zyuganov said the current government reshuffle was the "first step toward testing the formula of succession and a successor" to the Russian president.
"This is a new testing stage," Zyuganov said. "The successor has to be tested out in an executive position."
"The new appointments prove that a decision has been made to strengthen the government with people who are close to the president by spirit and character, with those who worked with him in tandem recently," the KPRF leader said. "But only in several months will we be able to make more serious conclusions."
