Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to his chief of staff Sergei Ivanov during a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 24, 2014.Russian President Vladimir Putin today removed his chief of staff, one of the closest members of his inner circle, sending startled Russians into a whirl of speculation over the reason and whether it meant upheaval in the Kremlin.
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The Kremlin issued a statement today saying Ivanov had resigned voluntarily and would now serve as a special envoy on environmental and transport issues, a seemingly extraordinary step down.
The 63-year-old Ivanov is the latest long-standing Putin ally to have been sidelined in what analysts are describing as the Russian leader’s attempt to bring in a new, younger entourage. “We’ve worked successfully. I’m satisfied with how you have fulfilled your tasks in your area of duties”.
Putin kept Ivanov’s seat on the presidential Security Council, a small consolation prize for his sharp downgrade.
His replacement Vaino, a 44-year-old ex-diplomat, has served as his deputy since 2012. Considered one of Putin’s closest allies, he was sometimes mentioned as a possible successor when terms limits forced Putin to leave office in 2008.
After Putin won his first presidential term in 2000, Ivanov became his defense minister. A number of Russian political analysts suggested that Putin was seeking to avoid what they called “Brezhnev-nization”, referring to the octogenarian Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who surrounded himself with aged comrades and whose rule came to be seen as symbolic of the fossilized state of the Soviet Union.
Some Kremlin insiders believed that Ivanov then ruined his presidential chances with a premature celebration of what he apparently had seen as the already secured nomination, something which had put Putin on his guard.
Social media users on Friday posted photos of Vayno at previous Kremlin events, including one where he was carrying an umbrella for Putin. “Psychologically, it’s now more comfortable for Putin to deal with just that kind of people – people who from the very beginning look on him as a grand chief and who don’t remember those times when Vladimir Putin wasn’t a grand chief yet”. All are men in their 60s, and all long-time acquaintances of the president.
Anton Vaino, 44, has been named as his successor. Mr Vaino joined the presidential administration in 2002, quietly distinguishing himself as an effective apparatchik.
Vaino’s grandfather, Karl Vaino, headed the Communist Party in Soviet-ruled Estonia between 1978 and 1988.
Viano will be responsible for drafting laws for the president to submit to parliament, monitoring their enforcement and conducting analysis of domestic and foreign affairs for the president.
Putin recently reshuffled a string of top regional officials in a move experts say is aimed at helping the Kremlin shore up the vote across the country.
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It was once thought that Mr Ivanov might become president of Russian Federation after Mr Putin’s second term, as a third term for Mr Putin would have been unconstitutional. Putin is widely expected to run for a fourth term.
