International
New Head of FSB
By Axis 14/5/08
May 14, 2008 - 12:52:35 PM

According to security analyst Andrei Soldatov, Patrushev's appointment to the Security Council, indicates that its influence will grow. Sergei Goncharov, a former KGB officer and Moscow City Duma member, believes that expansion of the Security Council's functions should be expected “because it will become a more serious grouping that will not only advise, but also influence the situation."

Alexander Bortnikov who comes from St. Petersburg like Patrushev, Putin and Medvedev is believed to be closer to Medvedev than the Kremlin's siloviki clan, which includes Patrushev and Putin's longtime deputy chief of staff, Igor Sechin, The Moscow Times says. Soldatov calls him “Medvedev's man, not Sechin's," though, some Russian media have speculated that Bortnikov is close to Sechin.

The FSB can be expected to focus more on corruption and economic crimes, Bortnikov's areas of expertise, the paper cites Sergei Goncharov. Bortnikov was appointed chief of the FSB's economic security department in 2004, taking a post vacated by Yury Zaostrovtsev, who resigned amid media reports that his father had run a security company that rendered services to Tri Kita bosses.

Goncharov considers Bortnikov was "a figure who suits everyone," including Medvedev, Putin and Patrushev. Soldatov noted that the appointment was a setback for Putin's ally and former top drug enforcement officer Viktor Cherkesov, who had lobbied the Kremlin for the FSB post but instead got a position in an arms-procurement agency. The reshuffle suggests that a plan to redivide control over law enforcement agencies has been shelved, The Moscow Times concludes.