He bases his forecast on press and other statements by President Putin and the government chief of staff, the expert said to the media.
As the acting procedure has it, the Cabinet is to resign after the presidential inauguration. The President is constitutionally obliged to offer a prime-ministerial nomination to the State Duma, parliament's lower house, and, if it finds MPs' approval, issue a decree on the government structure. "Many think it is all a pure technicality-but I have every reason to think it is not," said Mr. Shokhin.
He does not think Mr. Putin will repeat his preceding decree on Cabinet arrangements, and expects the upcoming decree to spectacularly streamline them. It is hard to make forecasts now but, at any rate, the expert is sure the number of federal agencies will shrink, while federal services will gain greater independence from ministries.
There is another matter on which he is quite sure-Mikhail Fradkov will remain federal Premier.
