About One Third Of Russian Cabinet Positions Could Be Renewed - Source
MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax) - The composition of the Russian government submitted to President Vladimir Putin by Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov could undergo serious changes, several analysts claim.
"About one-third of Cabinet portfolios could be reshuffled," a source told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The fact that Zubkov announced Anatoly Serdyukov's resignation from the post of Defense Minister 'for family reasons' indicates that the prime minister will not be a merely 'technical' figure.
Zubkov has demonstrated that he is a person of principles and that he is determined to renew the Cabinet," he said.
"No haste will be made in the confirmation of the new government," he said.
"The current task is to form a viable and effective Cabinet without any 'transient' figures, the members of which would not cause idiosyncrasy in the parliament," he said.
The head of state's current consultations with the leaders of all parliamentary factions fit into this scheme, he said.
Renewal will mostly affect the social bloc in the government, the source continued.
"The names of these ministers are cited fairly often: (acting Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail) Zurabov, (acting Culture Minister Alexander) Sokolov and (acting Regional Development Minister Vladimir) Yakovlev," he said.
Zurabov's resignation "is more or less apparent," said Political Research Institute Director Sergei Markov.
"If the party of power in the broad sense of the word runs with Zurabov, public opinion would receive a slap in the face," he said.
"Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref could quit, too, since he had been contemplating resignation for a long time," he said.
"By all accounts, Gref could be replaced by someone from his team - I think Arkady Dvorkovich (the head of the presidential administration's experts department) has the best chance - or perhaps one of his deputies," Markov said.
"Central Bank Chairman Sergei Ignatyev could also quit - not immediately, but following the restructuring of the government," he said.
"The Health and Social Development Ministry and the Education and Science Ministry should be split. They currently combine too many different responsibilities," he said.
Commenting on Serdyukov's future, he said he could be appointed secretary of the Russian Security Council, or head of a state corporation or of a major financial structure.
"Serdyukov's departure, merely because he is a relative of the prime minister, does not mean that he is leaving the team. The Security Council is an option, but there are other options as well - a state corporation, or possibly, a major financial structure directly related to the state," Markov said.
Gleb Pavlovsky, the president of the Effective Politics Foundation said that, "Serdyukov's appointment to a new high post is highly probable." "He has quit without any complaints voiced regarding his professional skills, to say nothing of complaints of a political nature, and against a backdrop of his serious positive start as a minister. So, a place that ranks among the higher posts will be found for him," Pavlovsky told Interfax on Wednesday.
Asked whether it could be the post of Security Council secretary, the political scientist said, "It could be, taking the level of his professional competence into account. But this would be a political decision."
Pavlovsky said Serdyukov's departure over his being Zubkov's relative "is a signal indicating that the new government will be an emphatically clean-handed government."
"The mandate Zubkov holds is definitely not that of the head of a technical government. In my opinion, the president has given the Cabinet a space of additional opportunities. It must demonstrate whether it is successful enough for the prime minister to lay claims on the presidency," Pavlovsky said.
Mark Urnov, the director of Ekspertiza, a think tank, argued that "Serdyukov's resignation is a political stunt for Viktor Zubkov that makes his image more attractive, if one thinks that he is indeed seen as a possible "successor."
Interfax sources noted, meanwhile, that the intrigue involving the government will remain such until the last moment. Not only personnel, but also structural changes could occur, they said.
The Cabinet's structural re-tuning could include a departure from the current three-level system of federal executive agencies - ministries - services-agencies, a source told Interfax. A new body in charge of state corporations being formed now could appear in the government, he said.
"One will evidently have to wait for a few more days before the new government is announced. It could happen early next week," a source said.
"The government's fine-tuning will continue after the backbone of the Cabinet is in place," he said.
The government that stepped down comprises four deputy prime ministers, including two first deputy prime ministers, and 17 federal ministers.