A month before parliamentary elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday replaced his close ally and powerful chief of staff Sergei Ivanov, in the highest-level change inside the Kremlin in several years.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and former chief of staff Sergei Ivanov. “I very much hope that you use your knowledge and experience for effective work in your new role”, he said. The stern statement was followed by footage of a meeting between Putin, Ivanov and the new chief of staff, Anton Vayno, Ivanov’s former deputy.
On being appointed, he told Mr Putin: “Thank you for your trust”.
Mr Ivanov has been part of Mr Putin’s trusted inner circle for many years.
The Kremlin’s press office issued Putin’s order to “relieve Sergei Ivanov of his duties” – a decision that came, according to the president, in accordance with a previous arrangement. Despite the clear appearance that Ivanov was forced out, Putin insisted he was making the move at Ivanov’s request because he had been too long in the job.
He was defence minister between 2001 and 2007 and was a first deputy prime minister during Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency from 2008 to 2012.
It’s a claim echoed by Ivanov, who was seen meeting with the president on state TV, but it’s been met with scepticism.
Stanislav Belkovsky, a political consultant who once advised the Kremlin, said Putin prefers younger people who were never his peers and who see him as the country’s supreme authority.
Social media users on Friday posted photos of Vayno at previous Kremlin events, including one where he was carrying an umbrella for Putin.
“Putin is gravitating toward those who serve him, and distancing himself from those who, by virtue of their resources, attempt to rule alongside Putin”, Tatyana Stanovaya, a political scientist, wrote in a recent commentary for the Carnegie Moscow Center.
The changes started past year with the departure of Vladimir I. Yakunin, head of Russian railways, who was then so insulted by the low-level rank offered to him in the Federal Council, the upper house of parliament, that he refused the post.
Analysts offered contrasting views as to whether Ivanov had been pushed out of the Kremlin, with some seeing his exit as a sign that Putin was nervous ahead of elections and others saying Ivanov, 63, had been looking to quit for some time. All are men in their 60s who studied or made their careers in St. Petersburg alongside Putin.
Among the new appointees to senior government jobs are former officers of the Kremlin security guard and stolid clerks who hadn’t been known to the public. Vaino is the grandson of a Soviet-era Communist Party boss of the Baltic republic of Estonia. He said that Mr Ivanov had personally recommended Mr Vaino as a replacement.
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At home, as the campaign season starts for September 18 parliamentary elections, Putin is seen as focused on whipping up enthusiasm for his United Russia party. “For these new people, Putin is a sacred figure”.
