MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president has approved Security Council head Igor Ivanov's resignation, an unidentified council official said Wednesday.
Ivanov was earlier July reported to be planning to step down as head of the body that advises the president on security issues, but there has been no official comment on the issue to date.
The source said there were no plans to restructure the Security Council, and made no comment on the future plans of Ivanov, a foreign minister in 1998-2004 under then President Boris Yeltsin and then Putin.
Russian media reports earlier suggested Ivanov could be named ambassador to a European country, or leave the civil service for academia, whereas others said he could become another candidate to succeed Vladimir Putin, whose presidential term expires in 2008.
