By IRNA,
Moscow : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin formed a new government on Monday, keeping the key ministers in their posts, RIA Novosti says.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, retain their positions in the new Cabinet.
The number of deputy premiers has been increased from five to seven.
Ex-premier Viktor Zubkov and former presidential aide Igor Shuvalov will be first deputy prime ministers.
The five deputy prime ministers will be Sergei Ivanov, who earlier held the higher post of first deputy prime minister, Sergei Sobyanin, who will also be chief of government staff, Alexander Zhukov, who has been placed in charge of national projects, Igor Sechin, who will be overseeing industry, and Alexei Kudrin, who retains the post of finance minister.
Zhukov and Kudrin were deputy premiers in the previous Cabinet, while Sobyanin and Sechin were senior Kremlin administration figures.
President Medvedev announced on Monday that Alexander Bortnikov, who previously headed the economic security department of the Federal Security Service (FSB), has been appointed as head of the FSB, leaving former chief Nikolai Patrushev to head the national Security Council.
The government will also have a new ministry of sports, tourism and youth policy, to be headed by the head of the Russian Football Union, Vitaly Mutko, and a federal agency for CIS affairs.
Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu, Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina, Health and Social Development Minister Tatiana Golikova, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev, and Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko have retained their posts.
The former Industry and Energy Ministry has been reorganized into two ministries, with several ministerial agencies scrapped.