RUSSIA - May 26 - Putin Removes Chief Prosecutor In Kremlin Turf War.

Pres Vladimir Putin reveals growing tension within the Kremlin inner circle ahead of Russia's presidential elections in 2008 when he unexpectedly removed the country's hardline chief prosecutor. In one of the most significant reshuffles among the siloviki - the former and present members of Russia's security services who have gained enormous power under Putin - Vladimir Ustinov was relieved of his duties by parliament at the request of the president. Ustinov, prosecutor general since 2000, oversaw the attack on the Yukos oil company over the past three years and the jailing of its former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Kremlin said Ustinov had offered his own resignation but provided no explanation. His departure follows Putin's call last month in the state of the nation address to overhaul the police, the security and public prosecutors' services - all bastions of the siloviki. Last month he fired several high-ranking officials at the Federal Security Service and dismissed the head of the customs service. Observers said Putin's decision was a strong sign of a fierce turf war between Kremlin clans ahead of the 2008 presidential elections. Ustinov's dismissal was a serious blow to Igor Sechin, a powerful deputy head of the Kremlin administration. He is also the chairman of the state-owned Rosneft oil company, which benefited from the dismantling of Yukos. Ustinov has close personal links with Sechin: his son is married to Sechin's daughter. Analysts said Ustinov's dismissal was a sign of the strengthening of Sergei Ivanov, Russia's powerful defence minister and another strong candidate to succeed Putin as president in 2008. Putin and Ivanov both served in the KGB, the Soviet secret service. Kremlin-watchers say the tension between Sechin and Ustinov on the one hand and Ivanov on the other has been building up in recent months. The defence ministry has come under a series of stinging attacks from military prosecutors, which observers say were aimed personally at Ivanov. Putin has recently boosted Ivanov's position, making him a deputy prime minister and giving him an overriding responsibility for the military-industrial complex. Ivanov's growing influence was also evident in the state of the nation address, which paid particular attention to defence issues. A source in the Kremlin said the removal of Ustinov would lead to more changes in the government. Ustinov, a 53-year-old, became a household name in Russia when his office oversaw Khodorkovsky's prosecution on fraud and tax evasion charges, Reuters writes from Moscow. Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky is serving eight years in a Siberian prison. The campaign against the tycoon and his company alarmed markets and prompted concerns that the Kremlin was using the judicial system to bring down its opponents. Russian news agencies on Friday floated two names as possible successors to Ustinov - Dmitry Kozak and Alexander Konovalov. A tough-talking former Kremlin chief of staff close to the president, Kozak is in charge of bringing order to the violent North Caucasus region. Konovalov, a former prosecutor, is Putin's envoy to the Volga region.