InfoAnda - Russian defense chief crossed Putin's political family |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Chinese jet maker looks for foreign executives | 26 February 2009
Arabic becoming the language of Facebook | 7 July 2011
Seoul shares open lower led by tech exporters | 10 November 2008

Sony recruits information security boss after hacking | | 6 September 2011

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Russian defense chief crossed Putin's political family |

Edition: U.S. Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Aerospace & Defense Investing Simplified Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB Dividends World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Campaign Polling Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus Nicholas Wapshott Bethany McLean Anatole Kaletsky Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Reihan Salam Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Mark Leonard Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (2) Full Focus Editor's Choice Our best photos from the last 24 hours. Slideshow Download our Wider Image iPad app Images of October Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read After Obama win, U.S. backs new U.N. arms treaty talks 07 Nov 2012 China submarines to soon carry nukes, draft U.S. report says 2:01am EST Obama win shows demographic shifts working against Republicans 8:17am EST Republican strategist Karl Rove's very bad night 07 Nov 2012 Marijuana legalization victories could be short-lived 07 Nov 2012 Discussed 195 Jobless rate seen rising, offering Obama no relief 170 Fuel scarce, East Coast struggles to recover 163 White House race goes down to the wire Sponsored Links Russian defense chief crossed Putin's political "family" Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Putin sacks defense minister amid scandal Tue, Nov 6 2012 Insight: Putin's Russia - more fragile than it looks Fri, Nov 2 2012 Russia's election Magician pans "undemocratic" U.S. vote Wed, Oct 31 2012 Russia activists detained after opposition council meets Sat, Oct 27 2012 Russia's jailed punk rock band members sent to prison camps Mon, Oct 22 2012 Analysis & Opinion Fresh faces, old issues in Indiaâ€™s new cabinet Related Topics World » Russia » Investing Simplified » By Thomas Grove and Timothy Heritage MOSCOW | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:55am EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Viktor Zubkov was the friend Russian President Vladimir Putin turned to when he wanted help blowing out his birthday candles 12 years ago. At the time, Zubkov was an obscure tax man but had already forged the close relationship with Putin on which the political career of Russia's defense minister may have foundered this week in a tale of alleged corruption, adultery and Kremlin rivalries. By 2007, Zubkov had become prime minister and rising with him was Anatoly Serdyukov, whose appointment as defense minister the same year cannot have been hindered by his marriage to Zubkov's only daughter Yulia. Serdyukov, now 50, appears, however, to have made a politically fatal error by falling out with his patron after his marriage hit the rocks. It was Serdyukov who, according to some Russian media, opened the door to police in his bathrobe and slippers when they launched an early-morning raid last month on the apartment of his 33-year-old female neighbor, one of his former employees. The raid, part of an investigation into a nearly $100 million corruption scandal, was soon splashed across Russian newspapers and Serdyukov's job was on the line. A hastily arranged meeting with Putin the day the news broke failed to save him. After years of loyalty, he had become a political liability to the president, who announced his dismissal in a televised meeting with his successor on Tuesday. "The number of violations, and we are talking about violations everywhere, was so great that his presence was no longer acceptable," former Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on the sidelines of a conference, making clear the corruption investigation was not the only cause of Serdyukov's downfall. His main mistake, in Putin's and Zubkov's eyes, probably lay elsewhere. "Serdyukov's real mistake was that he broke the golden rule of loyalty to the family, his political family," said a source close to the government. WEB OF INTRIGUE Serdyukov's ouster says much about the tacit rules of Russian politics, where loyalty and old alliances are sacrosanct and unchanged in Putin's third term. Among the 21 guests Putin invited to his birthday party in 2000 at one of his favorite restaurants outside his home town of St Petersburg, many, including Zubkov, have reaped the benefits of the president's power. The Byzantine workings of the Kremlin, with a former KGB agent at its helm, caused the media to see Zubkov's hand in the raid as a way of getting back at Serdyukov for what looked like a betrayal of his daughter and personal patronage. It also blew the lid on high-level infighting which Putin prefers to keep below the surface. Serdyukov had made many enemies in the Kremlin and armed forces by pushing through reforms, and the knives had been out for him for years. "Anatoly Serdyukov's removal is a victory for two groups," said Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy radio station. The first group, he said, was made up of power rivals led by the head of Putin's administration, Sergei Ivanov, who had ceded control of the funds being used for reforming the army since losing the defense ministry post to Serdyukov. The defense minister in effect channels a quarter of Russia's budget through the defense industry. Russia is the world's second largest arms exporter, and Putin has promised to spend 23 trillion roubles (nearly $730 billion) on the military by the end of this decade. The second group, he said, was the military lobby that opposed the reforms of the armed forces, the ranks of officers whom Serdyukov liked referring to as 'little green men'. Reforms were due to take more than 100,000 officers out of service. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev muddied the waters further by praising Serdyukov's efficiency after his dismissal, increasing speculation that he and Putin do not see eye to eye and his days as premier may be numbered. The situation around Serdyukov had become so complicated that the scandal he was drawn into - over sales of defense ministry property to insiders at suspiciously low prices - is not widely seen as the direct cause of his dismissal. What is not disputed is that, at the age of 71, Zubkov still has the ear of the president in his current role as chairman of the board of directors at state energy firm Gazprom. "It's the bathrobe and the slippers - it's not corruption (that brought Serdyukov down)," said an adviser to a wealthy Russian businessman familiar with the way Putin's system of patronage works. Although Reuters sought comment from Zubkov and Serdyukov, as well as his neighbor Yevgeniya Vasilieva, none was immediately available to comment. CONSTRUCTING THE WEB Zubkov became close to Putin in the 1990s when they worked together in the city administration in St Petersburg. The bond tightened as Putin helped secure a senior tax job in St Petersburg for Zubkov, who worked in the 1960s and 70s as a collective farm manager. In time, Zubkov in turn helped Putin and other friends find land outside Russia's second city to start a dacha, or country house, cooperative, Russian media reported. The cooperative contained several leading lights associated with Putin - Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin, former Education Minister Andrei Fursenko and top security official Nikolai Patrushev, Kommersant newspaper said. Other groups of friends and associates who have risen with Putin include former colleagues at Russia's spy agencies and security forces, known as the 'siloviki', and fellow economists and lawyers he knew in St Petersburg such as Medvedev. As Putin rose, so did Zubkov. By 2004 he was head of a team created to bust financial crimes and stamp out corruption. Three years later he had a brief spell as prime minister, a post he handed to Putin in May 2008 when the president left the Kremlin for four years because of a constitutional term limit. Zubkov blessed the marriage of his daughter to Serdyukov after the two met in the late 1990s while studying law in St Petersburg, and he gave his son-in-law's career a helping hand. A former furniture salesman, Serdyukov soon landed a senior job busting tax crimes as Putin brought to heel a group of rich tycoons known as oligarchs who had accumulated vast power and wealth after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among them was Russia's richest man, former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested in 2003 and later jailed for money laundering and tax evasion. Putin's opponents say the charges were politically motivated but he remains in prison. A source close to Russia's defense industry said Serdyukov had received Russia's top medal in return for helping dismantle the oil empire Khodorkovsky had created with his company YUKOS. WHAT WENT WRONG? Serdyukov's career was by now flourishing and Putin gladly rejected his resignation, offered in 2007, when his father-in-law became the head of the government. By forcing through deep personnel cuts to modernise Russia's rusting military, Serdyukov won a reputation as one of the few genuine reformers in Russia's upper echelons. In a sign of Putin's trust, as defense minister Serdyukov carried the nuclear briefcase for communicating with Russia's leaders on activating the country's nuclear arsenal. But he also gained enemies, who were waiting to pounce. His vulnerability became apparent when he was publicly drawn into the investigation into Defense Ministry firm Oboronservis on suspicion that it had sold assets to commercial firms at a loss of 3 billion roubles ($95.20 million). Police said they found valuable paintings, rare antiques and more than 100 expensive rings when they raided Vasilieva's apartment. It may have been time to get even for Zubkov, infuriated by the breakdown in his daughter's marriage, which sources say took place about a year ago. But others had long been portrayed by media as jealous of Serdyukov. Among those was Dmitry Rogozin, the ambitious former NATO ambassador who is now first deputy prime minister with responsibility for the military-industrial complex - but not the armed forces' huge budget. "For the last few months a big fight has been brewing between Serdyukov and Mr Rogozin, which has taken place because while Rogozin has achieved a very high position, in reality, he controls very little money," said defense analyst Alexander Golts. Rogozin said he had no interest in the job when asked by reporters on Thursday, why he had not been appointed Defense Minister. "I had no such plans," he said. With Kremlin administration chief Sergei Ivanov also displeased, Serdyukov's days in government were clearly numbered, analysts said. The respected Vedomosti newspaper said Serdyukov had also made enemies in the FSB security agency, the successor to the Soviet KGB, with plans to create a military police force, which would have limited the security agency's influence. "There is no grey area with Putin. You are either in it or you are out, and if enough people in Putin's circle think you should be out, then that's where you'll find yourself," said a source close to the Kremlin and the government. Where the scandal leaves Putin is uncertain. Some analysts suggest he removed a longtime ally only when forced to, and that this is a sign of weakness. Others said he had shown his strength by proving he could easily oust such powerful figures. Without doubt, by naming another trusted ally as defense minister - former Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu - he carefully avoided being seen to reward any of the rival groups that had been pushing for Serdyukov's departure. "After taking the decision to give up Anatoly Serdyukov, Putin did not make a concession to these groups, instead choosing Sergei Shoigu, who is not linked with any of the groups, as his successor. (He maintained) Balance, so to say," Venediktov wrote in a blog. That has long been Putin's strategy, playing one group off against another in a balance of power. Six months into his third term as president, Serdyukov's dismissal suggests his system of patronage and power games has changed little. ($1 = 31.5125 Russian roubles) (Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine and Dary Korsunskaya; editing by Ralph Boulton/Janet McBride) World Russia Investing Simplified Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (2) matthewslyman wrote: Edition: U.S. Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Thursday, 8 November 2012
Strong quake off Guatemala kills 8, felt in Mexico City |
After Obama win, U.S. backs new U.N. arms treaty talks |
Ghana mall collapse kills four, investigation ordered |
Hague prosecutor urges Libya not to grant amnesty for war crimes |
China's leadership challenge in new era: douse inequality volcano |
Merkel warns Britain against European Union exit |
Suspected French jihadist arrested in Mali |
Apple shares slide to five-month low, competition grows |
AT&T to boost annual spending 16 percent to $22 billion |
VirnetX says jury asks Apple to pay $368 million in patent case |
GPS app Waze starts to tap into location-based ads |
Taylor Swift reigns over Billboard 200, Meek Mill debuts high |
Look who's talking! Kirstie Alley calls Travolta greatest love |
Dad's Army star Clive Dunn dies aged 92 |
Country duo Civil Wars cancel tour, cite discord |
China's Hu says graft threatens state, party must stay in charge |
Turkey to ask NATO for Patriot missiles: report |
Suicide attack on base in Pakistan's biggest city kills one |
Obama victory infuriates Pakistani drone victims |
Strong earthquake off Guatemala kills at least 48 |
Obama to visit Myanmar Novomber 19: Myanmar source |
China submarines to soon carry nukes, draft U.S. report says |
Siemens aims to save 6 billion euros by 2014 |
RIM's BlackBerry 10 platform wins coveted U.S. security clearance |
Lenovo logs weakest quarterly profit growth in more than two years |
At Panasonic, blunt chief looks to force turnaround |
Mom of Modern Family actress denies abuse claims |
At least 18 killed in Afghan bomb attacks: officials |
Syrian rebels kill prisoner as war fuels hatred |
Iran temporarily bans import of some luxury goods: report |
Churches force Malawi to change tune on anti-gay law |
Liberia likely to revise logging contracts over graft: president |
Sudan rebels say downed Antonov plane in oil state |
Russian defense chief crossed Putin's political family |
Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year |
Google reaches out to the next billion |
Galaxy S3 takes No. 1 position in smartphone market: research |
Target to showcase CNET reviews as it courts gadget shoppers |
Fan dies in Linkin Park Cape Town concert accident |
Why vampires? Book looks at science behind monsters |
Impressionist nod to fashion on display in Paris |
Popular German Alpine folk band fakes music: producer |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph	VPN on MacOSX	BlogMeter 1.01