Kremlin Power Struggle Flares with Minister Ousting

The public sacking of Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, a member of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, was an unprecedented outburst of turf war in the Kremlin, Russian analysts said.

But it is too early to say whether the power struggle among Putin’s allies is intensifying, or whether the minister’s fall will remain an isolated incident, said Mikhail Vinogradov, the chairman of the St. Petersburg Politics Fund, a think-tank.

Serdyukov is credited with launching ambitious reforms of Russia’s military, but his initiatives lacked direction and largely fell through, while corruption allegations gradually eroded his public image, experts said.

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