Putin draws a new circle of power

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the formation of a new Russian government Monday, reappointing several top ministers and maintaining the power and prominent roles of members of his inner circle.

Putin, who was barred by the constitution from a third consecutive term as president, became prime minister last week, one day after yielding the presidency to Dmitri Medvedev, a longtime aide and protégé.

He also left several prominent ministers untouched, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.

Putin presented the names of his team to Medvedev, who promptly approved them. The announcements reinforced the image that Putin will retain a grip on power and the direction of policy in Russia.

Putin announced the 24 positions, eight of them new, at a Cabinet meeting in the government headquarters, the ministers already seated according to their new appointments. He named the hawkish Sergei Ivanov, once seen as a top candidate to succeed him as president, as one of his deputy prime ministers, a step down from his previous position as first deputy premier.

Putin increased the number of prime-ministerial deputies to seven, compared to the five for his predecessor, Viktor Zubkov.

Zubkov was named a first deputy prime minister, in charge of agriculture, forestry and the fishing industry in addition to customs and tariffs.

The other first deputy premier is Igor Shuvalov, a top policy aide in Putin's Kremlin who will oversee foreign economic policy and negotiate Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization.

Igor Sechin, the former deputy chief of presidential staff, will oversee industrial-development programs and apparently will remain chairman of the state-controlled oil company, Rosneft.

Also

Ukraine: Moscow's powerful mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, was barred from entering the country for reportedly suggesting that it should cede the Crimean port city of Sevastopol to Russia.

Slaying suspect: Russian investigators Monday named Rustam Makhmudov as the key suspect in the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in Moscow in 2006.