January 11, 2000
Web posted at: 3:02 a.m. EST (0802 GMT)

MOSCOW -- After a week and a half as Russia's acting president, Vladimir Putin shook up the upper echelons of the Kremlin on Monday, sacking Nikolai Aksyonenko and Viktor Khristenko as first deputy prime ministers and putting Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov in their place.

Putin made a host of other moves, including promoting Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu, head of the pro-Putin Unity party, to deputy prime minister.

Aksyonenko will keep his other post as Russia's railway minister, and Khristenko will be one of seven deputy prime ministers.

Also on Monday, Putin fired Kremlin property manager Pavel Borodin, who had been tainted by allegations that a Swiss construction company bribed Kremlin officials in exchange for lucrative construction contracts. Borodin has denied involvement.

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The 46-year-old Putin stepped into the role of acting president after President Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation on December 31. Yeltsin had appointed the former KGB agent prime minister on August 9, naming him at the same time as his preference to succeed him in the presidency.

Putin, who vowed to rid the Russian government of corruption, is the front-runner for presidential elections scheduled for March 26. His early moves are likely to further bolster his chances.

Last week, Putin sacked Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, who had acted as Yeltsin's "image adviser," an undefined position that gave her a Kremlin office, access to her father in an official capacity and a great deal of behind-the-scenes influence in the Kremlin.

Dyachenko and her sister Yelena Okulova have been investigated by Swiss and Russian prosecutors in connection with the same allegations that plagued Borodin.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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