Putin clears out deputy defence ministers, appoints his relative

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday sacked four deputy defence ministers and appointed a relative, Anna Tsivileva, to fill one of the vacancies.

Putin sacked deputy defence ministers Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Tatiana Shevtsova and Pavel Popov, according to Kremlin decrees. He appointed Tsivileva, who Russian media said is the daughter of Putin's cousin, as a deputy defence minister.

Leonid Gornin, a deputy finance minister, will be a first deputy defence minister under Defence Minister Andrei Belousov.

Pavel Fradkov, the son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, was appointed a deputy defence minister. Oleg Savelyev was also appointed deputy defence minister.

After Putin last month appointed Belousov as defence minister and moved Sergei Shoigu to the Russian Security Council, the move appears to be an attempt to install loyalists in the defence ministry.