In a highly symbolic move, Acting President Vladimir Putin yesterday dismissed Boris Yeltsin's daughter, moving to distance himself from his predecessor's corruption-tainted administration.
Putin's speedy removal of Tatyana Dyachenko from her Kremlin post was clearly intended to send a message to the Russian public that the acting president wants to sever ties with the scandal-tinged Yeltsin administration.
Dyachenko became a controversial figure in Russian politics and was seen as a powerful influence on her father.
She and her sister Yelena Okulova have been investigated by Swiss and Russian prosecutors in connection with allegations of massive kickbacks at the top of the Russian government.
Putin, whose tough action in Chechnya has made him the strong front-runner in presidential elections expected on March 26, has said he will clear up the widespread corruption in the Russian government.
The war remains fairly popular among Russians and forms the basis for Putin's high opinion poll ratings.
Removing Dyachenko is likely to be a popular move with Russian voters, who came to despise the Yeltsin family in recent years for their alleged ties to corrupt magnates.
Putin generated some controversy by granting Yeltsin immunity from prosecution when the aged president resigned unexpectedly on Friday and named Putin as acting president. While the decree protected Yeltsin from prosecution and made it impossible to subpoena his papers, the immunity did not extend to his family.
Dyachenko had officially 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's true role was never clear. She shunned public attention, but was persistently linked by Russian media reports to several powerful magnates who allegedly used their wealth and media holdings to try to manipulate government policy and acquire privatised state assets.
Swiss prosecutors are looking into whether Dyachenko, along with other Kremlin officials and Yeltsin relatives, took bribes from a Swiss company, Mabetex, that won lucrative Kremlin construction contracts.
Putin also removed Dmitry Yakushkin from his post as presidential spokesperson, but Chief-of-Staff Alexander Voloshin then appointed Yakushkin as one of his deputies.
Two other, more minor changes took place N Vladimir Shevchenko and Valery Semyonchenko were fired from their posts as protocol chief and presidential office chief, respectively. The two were made Putin advisers, the Interfax news agency said.
In Chechnya yesterday Russian forces pounded rebel positions in Grozny and in the southern mountains of the region as they pressed their offensive to crush Islamic militants.
But rebel spokesperson Movladi Udugov said the Russians were suffering mounting casualties and had lost control of three villages south-west of Grozny N a claim denied by Moscow.
Germany yesterday renewed its pressure on Putin to halt the three-month military campaign and to seek a peaceful solution.
"As long as this conflict continues it will cast a shadow over the relationship between Russia and Germany and the European Union," Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's foreign policy advisor, Michael Steiner, told German Radio.
In talks with Russian commanders in the Chechen conflict, Putin yesterday called for a speedy restoration of normal civilian life in Russian-controlled Chechnya.
Putin is keen to wrap up the Chechen war before the presidential election. Heavy losses among Russian troops could cost him at the polls.- Sapa-AP, Reuter