Kremlin shuffles government before vote

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MOSCOW, Sept 25 (AP): President Vladimir Putin named a new government Monday, tapping new economics and health ministers and retaining his foreign and defence ministers in an expected but largely cosmetic shuffle before parliamentary and presidential elections.
The new government's naming comes just over a week after Viktor Zubkov, an obscure Cabinet official who had overseen money laundering investigation, became prime minister in a move that surprised most Kremlin experts and stoked speculation who would be Putin's successor.
The changes were largely superficial and observers said major policy shifts of any sort were unlikely before parliamentary elections in December and presidential vote in March.
Putin said economics minister German Gref was replaced with his first deputy, Elvira Nabiullina. Health minister Mikhail Zurabov was replaced by Finance Ministry official Tatiyana Golikova.
Both outgoing ministers are widely unpopular among leftist lawmakers and large sections of Russians - Gref for his pro-Western, free-market economic reforms; Zurabov for changes in how social benefits were paid out to the elderly, the disabled and veterans.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov retained his post and Putin rejected the resignation of Anatoly Serdyukov, Zubkov's son-in-law who offered his resignation last week because of his close family ties with the new prime minister.
Speculation has been building about the plans for Putin, who is wildly popular among Russians and who is barred by the constitution from running for a second, consecutive term as president. Before the surprise dissolution of the government of Mikhail Fradkov on Sept. 10, Kremlin observers had been watching closely for signs of who might be the favoured candidate to replace him.
Most observers considered the government's two first deputy prime ministers - former Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and natural gas monopoly Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev - to be the front-runners for prime minister and thus leading contenders for the presidency.
However, Putin tapped Zubkov, a Soviet-era state farm director and Communist Party official who has kept a low profile in six years heading Russia's anti-money-laundering agency, to be the new prime minister.