Abkhazia, South Ossetia to be Surkov’s only responsibilities – Ivanov

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Interfax – SALEKHARD, Russia, September 25, 2013) President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, has denied that Vladislav Surkov will have any other duties in his new capacity as a presidential aide than those relating to Russia’s economic relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Sergei Ivanov file photo“I have answered this question a hundred times, but let me answer it for the hundred and first time. He will carry out functions that are absolutely identical to those (Tatyana) Golikova had. He will only head one department, the one that Golikova oversaw. There are no plans to expand his functions,” Ivanov told reporters.

Putin appointed Surkov as an aide on Friday. He had dismissed Golikova the same day as the State Duma had elected her as chair of the Russian Accounts Chamber.

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