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Putin appoints Russia's new Security Council chief - Kremlin

RIA Novosti

18/07/2007 18:29

MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - President Putin has appointed a new Security Council head following his approval of Igor Ivanov's resignation, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Putin issued a decree appointing Deputy Security Council Secretary Valentin Sobolev as the new head of the council, a statement posted on the Kremlin's Web site said.

According to an anonymous Kremlin source, Sobolev, who spent most of his career in Russia's state security apparatus, is considered "a man on the president's team."

"He is a serious professional, a team player, who has spent many years in this [state security] sphere," the source said.

Sobolev was appointed deputy head of the Security Council in 1999.

The Kremlin source said there were no plans to restructure the Security Council, and made no comment on the future plans of Ivanov, a foreign minister in 1998-2004 under Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin.

Russia's Security Council was established June 3, 1992, and is chaired by the Russian president.

The first reports indicating that Igor Ivanov was planning to step down as head of the body that advises the president on security issues came in July, but there has been no official comment on the issue to date.

Some media reports earlier said that Ivanov could be named ambassador to a European country or even become another candidate successor to Putin, whose presidential term expires in 2008.

But Ivanov said Wednesday he was not going to get involved in politics and was considering a career in academia.

"I have a doctorate degree in history, and I am planning to devote most of my time to teaching and scientific research," Ivanov told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

He also said his resignation followed the accomplishment of the tasks set by the Russian president prior to his appointment to the post in 2004.

"When Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed me as secretary of the Security Council in March 2004, he set a number of concrete tasks, which I believe I have accomplished," Ivanov said.