Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend A.Gasimova / Appointing Victor Zubkov the Prime Minister of Russia and changing the composition of the Government will not affect the bilateral relations between Moscow and Baku, said the Chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for CIS, Vadim Gustov.
On 12 September, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, received the retirement of Russia's Prime Minister, Mikhail Fradkov. The former Head of the Russian Financial Monitoring, Victor Zubkov, replaced him. In addition, changes took place in the composition of the Government. The Ministers of Economic Development, Health and Social Development, and Regional Development also retired.
On 26 September by telephone from Moscow, Gustov said that the changes will not affect relations with neighboring countries, particularly Azerbaijan, because these are internal changes. " Azerbaijan continues to be of great interest to Russia due to their oil and gas fields and the existence of various kinds of natural resources," Gustov said.
The Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Government, Sergei Ivanov, said last week that the changes are internal and will not affect the country's foreign policy.
The last governmental changes in Russia took place in 2004.