Poetin benoemt EU-diplomaat Fradkov tot nieuwe premier (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russia's top diplomat in Brussels, Mikhail Fradkov, has been named as the country's next Prime Minister.

Early on Monday the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, named Mr Fradkov as his new head of government, ahead of elections on 14 March.

Mr Putin unceremoniously dumped the former holder of the post - Mikhail Kasyanov - last week in a televised address, prompting a flurry of speculation that he was about to name as his successor a close member of the 'siloviki' - Mr Putin's ring of former security officials.

Mr Fradkov was posted to Brussels last June and has since then, steered through some of the most difficult times in EU-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War.

His tenure as Moscow's man in the Belgian capital was dominated by the enlargement of the EU and NATO to encompass many ex-Soviet states as well as watching the EU take up an ever important role in the Balkans.

Recent months have seen EU-Russia relations sour dramatically with a major dispute over the extension of a bilateral partnership deal to cover the new member states, which Russia has so far refused to do.

He is known to be a staunch defender of Russian interests.

On Monday (1 March), the Commission welcomed the move.

"In our view this is a positive signal of the importance that Russia attaches to relations with the European Union", said spokesperson Reijo Kemppinen

"[He] has deep knowledge of the EU and his appointment will certainly facilitate contacts and understanding between us".

Dmitriy Polyanskiy, Spokesperson for the Russian mission to the EU told the EUobserver that the formal appointment of a new ambassador may take several months.