Putin changes Russia’s top prosecutor

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested dismissing Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika due to his transfer to other work.

The head of state nominated Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee Igor Krasnov as a candidate for the post, the presidential press service said.

"Vladimir Putin submitted for consideration by the Federation Council the candidacy of Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee Igor Krasnov for the post of the Russian Prosecutor General and a proposal to dismiss Yuri Chaika from this position due to his transfer to other work," the press service said.

President of the Minchenko Consulting Communication Group Yevgeny Minchenko, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, said that Yuri Chaika may join Mikhail Mishustin's Cabinet. "I do not exclude the possibility of him joining the new Cabinet. Especially since he served as the Minister of Justice in 1999-2006. At the same time, it is rather difficult to suggest which options are being considered," he said.

Director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin, in turn, linked Chaika's resignation with the need to balance the relations between power structures. "The replacement is almost planned in nature, but if you look at the details, you can see that recently the prosecutor general and the investigating authorities have often competed. I think that Putin’s proposal to appoint deputy head of the Investigative Committee Igor Krasnov as Russia’s top prosecutor will help to reconcile these two departments," he explained.

Yuri Chaika, 68, has served as Russia’s top prosecutor since June 23, 2006.

Igor Krasnov, 44, was in charge of the Main Department for investigating particularly important cases and the Main Investigative Department. He has worked for prosecution bodies since 1997. Since 2007, Krasnov started working as a senior investigator in the newly-formed Investigative Committee and was appointed as the deputy head of the IC in April 2016. Krasnov investigated such cases as a plot to kill Russian politician and businessman Anatoly Chubais, and the murders of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova as well as embezzlement during Vostochny spaceport’s construction.