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Putin spices up race to succeed him

By promoting his defense minister, he puts his two potential successors on equal footing.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 16, 2007

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin promoted his hawkish defense minister to a top government post Thursday, a move that puts Putin's two heirs apparent on equal footing before next year's election to replace the popular leader.

Both Sergei Ivanov and the more liberal Dmitry Medvedev have received lavish coverage in the Russian media, which is strongly influenced by the Kremlin, and are seen as the chief rivals for anointment by Putin as his favored successor in the March 2008 election.

Each man now holds the title of first vice-premier, formalizing a rivalry that is never mentioned officially but is played out daily on state-run television. News broadcasts prominently feature them struggling to look presidential in government meetings, speeches and closely choreographed visits to farms and factories.

Putin replaced Ivanov as defense minister with Anatoly Serdyukov, until now head of the federal tax agency. Putin praised Ivanov's work during six years as military chief and said he was broadening his responsibilities to include oversight of defense and some civilian industries.

"It's impossible to sit in two chairs," Putin said, explaining the move. Analysts said it could boost Ivanov's image by distancing him from the military, which faces persistent criticism over the vicious hazing of conscripts by older soldiers - abuses that make Russia's military draft extremely unpopular with young men and their worried parents.

Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office of the Heritage Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank, said the change signaled Putin's apparent intention to put Ivanov in a more even competition with Medvedev, a former Kremlin chief of staff. Medvedev was thrust into the spotlight when Putin appointed him to his current post and put him in charge of "national projects," including improvements to housing and funding increases for education and health care.

Ivanov had been one of two deputy prime ministers, while Medvedev was the sole first deputy prime minister.

Putin is barred from a third consecutive term by the constitution and has suggested he may back a favored successor.

Fast Facts:

Contenders to succeed Putin

Dmitry Medvedev: The 41-year-old law school graduate taught at St. Petersburg University in 1990-99.

- Met Putin while serving as a legal adviser to the St. Petersburg mayor's office.

- Became deputy chief of staff in the Kremlin in 2000 and then chief of staff in 2003.

- Chairman of state gas giant Gazprom's board of directors since 2002.

- A loyal member of Putin's group of friends and loyalists from St. Petersburg, he was appointed first deputy prime minister in November 2005.

Sergei Ivanov: Defense minister since 2001, Ivanov was a colleague of Putin's in the Soviet-era KGB in the mid-1970s in St. Petersburg.

- After working in foreign intelligence in Africa and Scandinavia, he rose through the ranks of Soviet and later Russian intelligence - becoming the deputy head of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main KGB successor agency, in 1998 when Putin was its chief.

- The first civilian defense minister in Russia, the English-speaking Ivanov, 54, is seen as a hawkish figure shaped by Cold War thinking.

- Had been deputy prime minister since November 2005. He is married with two children.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 01:04:01]