Russia’s Putin shifts former ministers to Kremlin
MOSCOW, May 22 — Russian President Vladimir Putin named seven former cabinet ministers to senior Kremlin posts today, in a move expected to weaken Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s new government and shift power to the presidential adminstration.
Putin (second right), in a decree issued a day after the government was formed, also confirmed Sergei Ivanov as his chief of staff while long-time ally Nikolai Patrushev stays on as secretary of the presidential Security Council. — Reuters
