Dmitry Medvedev has taken a step towards putting his own stamp on the Kremlin with the appointment of two speechwriters.
The Russian president has avoided sacking anyone in the reshuffle, but in the murky world of Kremlinology it is nonetheless big news, a signal of increasing confidence amplified by press reports hinting at a further reshuffle of officials.
Mr Medvedev's new head speechwriter, Eva Vasilevskaya, previously worked with him when he was first deputy prime minister and has been a member of his speechwriting team since he came to the Kremlin. She will play a central role in drafting the annual address to the general assembly, expected in late October or early November, the most important speech of the year for Mr Medvedev.
Alexei Chadaev, a conservative political commentator, is expected shortly to be named as a speechwriter working alongside the Kremlin's first deputy chief of staff, Vladislav Surkov, who oversees management of the Kremlin's domestic political machine. Mr Chadaev is known for a public criticism of Mr Surkov's ideology in January. Yet to be confirmed, his appointment has been widely reported by Moscow papers with close links to the Kremlin and people in the Kremlin have confirmed that background checks are being carried out.
The reshuffle underlines a new ideological direction Mr Medvedev appears to be taking, away from that of his predecessor and mentor, Vladimir Putin, prime minister, who remains the hegemonic figure in Russian politics. Until now Mr Medvedev has made only a handful of appointments, mostly federal governors, and overwhelmingly those surrounding him are Mr Putin's former staff.
The appointments have been accompanied by press speculation that Zhakhan Polliev, speechwriter for Mr Putin as well as Boris Yel¬tsin, is being marginalised and may leave the Kremlin, though she retains her post as deputy to the president.
"Changing speechwriters is a fairly important event," says Dmitry Badovski, deputy director of the Moscow-based Institute of Social Systems. "A speechwriter is a special role. It means someone closer to the inner circle than just a functional team. It's someone you trust. It means Medvedev needs someone who speaks his internal language."
Mr Medvedev has had to play a delicate balancing act since coming to power last year. Mr Putin hand-picked the president as his successor in 2008, after be¬ing forbidden from a third presidential term by Russia's constitution. Without alienating Mr Putin, Mr Medvedev has nonetheless sought to carve himself a distinct political identity.
In September, Mr Medvedev published a manifesto-like article on the website Gazeta.ru, calling for Russia to strive for a more modern economy and more open political system. It was seen as implicitly criticising the political clampdown of the Putin presidency of 2000-2008.
Both men have expressed interest in running for president in 2012, which has led to speculation that a rift may be developing that could be exacerbated if Mr Medvedev installed a new team in the Kremlin.
The Moscow daily newspaper Vedomosti on Wednesday indicated this might already be happening, citing a "Kremlin source" that the president's chief of staff, Sergei Narishkin, one of the most powerful Putin-era officials in the Kremlin, was likely to leave soon. Another official told the Financial Times, however, that this was "conjecture".
By Charles Clover in Moscow