Medvedev names key advisers; most are Putin men

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has named his team of close advisers, with key posts going mostly to officials who performed similar roles for previous Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin.

A presidential decree published on the Kremlin website www.kremlin.ru showed that Arkady Dvorkovich, a key Putin economic aide who often speaks on behalf of the government at investor conferences, would continue to advise the president.

Foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko remains in the Kremlin, as does speechwriter Jakhan Polliyeva and spokeswoman Natalia Timakova. Timakova was a deputy spokeswoman under Putin but now becomes Medvedev's chief public voice.

Former Telecoms Minister Leonid Reiman, who was dropped from the cabinet in the reshuffle announced this week, joins Medvedev's team of advisers.

Reiman has repeatedly denied media reports that he indirectly owns a major stake in Russia's number three mobile operator Megafon.

Among the few new arrivals to the Kremlin team is Konstantin Chuychenko, a former contemporary of Medvedev's at college who previously headed the legal department at state gas monopoly Gazprom.

But later on Wednesday Medvedev also announced he had appointed two advisers who had been close to former Russian president Boris Yeltsin.

Medvedev earlier in the week appointed Sergei Naryshkin, a close Putin ally who formerly headed the premier's office, as head of the powerful Kremlin administration.

Naryshkin's three Kremlin deputies are all Putin men: the former president's chief political strategist Vladislav Surkov, his ex-press chief Alexei Gromov and Alexander Beglov, who used to head the presidential control directorate which ensures Kremlin orders are carried out.