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Kremlin Denies Corruption Purges

The removal of the head and deputy head of the Office of Presidential Affairs' control department is not linked to a corruption case against a Kremlin official whose actions they were supposed to oversee, a Kremlin spokesman told Interfax on Wednesday.

Vedomosti, citing an unidentified Kremlin source, reported that Nikolai Mikheyev and his deputy, Sergei Sysolyatin, lost their jobs because of the case against Kremlin official Vladimir Leshchevsky, who is accused of extorting bribes in connection with construction for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

But the Kremlin spokesman said Sysolyatin was leaving for another job and Mikheyev had reached retirement age. No replacements were named Wednesday.

The case against Leshchevsky was opened in July on the direct request of President Dmitry Medvedev.

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