Putin promotes defense minister
From Times Wire Reports
President Vladimir V. Putin promoted close ally Sergei B. Ivanov to the position of first deputy prime minister but replaced him as defense minister in a personnel reshuffle a little more than a year before Russia’s presidential election.
The shift puts Ivanov in the same position as Dmitry Medvedev, who along with Ivanov is seen as a leading contender for the mantle of the Kremlin’s favored successor to Putin.
Anatoly Serdyukov, head of the federal tax agency, replaces Ivanov as defense minister, Putin said.
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