JRL NEWSWATCH: “No major changes for the presidential administration” – Bear Market Brief E-Mail Newsletter

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

“… seven advisers and aides … lost their roles … leaving Putin’s team … largely intact. … [REMAINING:] Anton Vaino … [as] chief of staff, Sergei Kirienko and Alexei Gromov … [as] first deputies, Magomedsalam Magomedov and Vladimir Ostrovenko … [as] deputies … Dmitry Peskov … [as] press secretary. [CHANGES:] German Klimenko … internet czar, has been relieved of his […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK: “Putin Reappoints Administration, Retaining Kremlin’s Core” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 13, 2018) President Vladimir Putin has reappointed virtually his entire administration in a salvo of decrees, including Chief of Staff Anton Vaino, spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the Kremlin’s one-time “gray cardinal” Vladislav Surkov. Putin was re-elected to his fourth overall term in March on the promise of a broad political “breakthrough,” and Russia’s elevation […]

» Read more

New Times: “In Anticipation of a Big Reshuffle”

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – January 15, 2018 – mrussia.org/en/the-rundown/media-must-reads/2896-big-reshuffle%2C-“kremlin-report%2C”-putin-and-2018-elections) While Putin has not announced any final decisions, journalist Denis Vardanyan discusses the reshuffling expected in the Kremlin and the government after the March 18 elections. The likely candidates comprise three groups: those whose work is marred by mistakes, those who want a reassignment, and those whose fate […]

» Read more

The Weird Science and New Kremlin Chief of Staff

Kremlin and River

A bizarre article about “spacial scanners” and “registering the unseen” has been linked to the newly appointed top bureaucrat Anton Vaino. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – August 16, 2016) “The market is a manifestation of life. The brightest manifestations of life occur in its condensation: in certain points, certain lines, certain spatial-temporal formations.” For some, this might […]

» Read more

Putin’s incredible shrinking circle; Ivanov’s departure leaves few voices able to speak truth to Putin

File Photo of Sergei Ivanov, adapted from defense.gov image

(opendemocracy.net – Mark Galeotti – August 16, 2016) Mark Galeotti is principal director of the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. True to the informal tradition that August brings surprises in #Russia, on the 12th it was announced that Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, was leaving his position as head […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: “THE VERY STRANGE WRITINGS OF PUTIN’S NEW CHIEF OF STAFF” – The New Yorker/Masha Gessen

Kremlin and River

… Putin changed his chief of staff, replacing an old K.G.B. colleague, Sergei Ivanov, with Anton #Vayno, a younger, little-known bureaucrat who has been serving as deputy chief of staff. … The possibilities are endless …. Vayno, who is forty-four, … not a surprising choice. … a member of the Putin clan for years, and, for at least the past […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: “Can government reshuffles bring any hope for #Russia?” – bne Intellinews/Mark Galeotti

Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

The unexpected removal of Sergei Ivanov … has inevitably created a frenzy of kremlinological speculation. A reshuffle is certainly underway … there is clearly some longer-term political goal. However, one aspect which has largely been neglected has been how this will affect the governance of #Russia in the short term, and the perennially any-day-now prospects of meaningful economic reform. … […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s personnel moves. Dancing in the dark. Desk shuffles in the Kremlin signal something, but no one knows what.” – The Economist

Kremlin and River

The Kremlin’s political nature resembles its physical structure: a walled fortress whose interior is invisible to those on the outside. … when … Putin sacked Sergei Ivanov, his powerful chief of staff, the Kremlin released only a cryptic video in which … Putin thanked … Ivanov for his 17 years of service. The move’s real meaning was left to speculation. […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: “Russian reshuffle claims another big name: Putin’s chief of staff”

File Photo of Sergei Ivanov, adapted from defense.gov image

… Putin has abruptly sacked his longtime aide and confidant, Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov, amid what appears to be a major reshuffling within the ranks of Russia’s ruling elite. … the Kremlin website says … Ivanov asked to retire, and requested that his trusted deputy, Anton Vaino, replace him. Even if wholly accurate, it does little to explain […]

» Read more

TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with Sergei Ivanov and Anton Vaino

Putin Descending a Staircase

(Kremlin.ru – August 12, 2016) Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Sergei Ivanov and Anton Vaino. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Ivanov, we have been working together for many years, and working successfully. I am pleased with your performance in the areas you have supervised. I remember very well our agreement when you asked me to not extend your […]

» Read more