Medvedev promotes another Putin KGB ally

MOSCOW, May 15 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday appointed Viktor Ivanov, once described by the jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky as one of the Kremlin's top hardliners, to head the federal anti-drug service.

The anti-drug agency is a powerful law enforcement body and Ivanov's appointment comes as yet another confirmation that some of the country's top state jobs will be controlled by allies of former President Vladimir Putin from his KGB days.

Putin, who became prime minister last week, has taken some of his closest staff members with him, but political analysts have noted that the Kremlin's administration of Putin's protege Dmitry Medvedev is also packed with his allies.

Medvedev, seen as a liberal, has said many times he will follow the policies of his political mentor Putin, although some analysts have said they hoped Medvedev would be given more freedom in appointing some ministers and officials.

Ivanov was deputy head of the Kremlin administration from 2000 to 2004, when Khodorkovsky called him and another deputy Igor Sechin the main architects of the demise of his company YUKOS, once Russia's largest oil firm.

Many analysts have said the destruction was punishment for the billionaire's political ambitions. Ivanov and Sechin never commented on accusations by Khodorkovsky, who is serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.

Ivanov was downgraded to Kremlin aide in 2004 after what insiders said were disagreements with Sechin. Both are seen as informal leaders of the hardliners clan.

Sechin this week became deputy prime minister in charge of the Russian energy industry, the world's second largest.

Like Putin, Ivanov is a career KGB officer. He served in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in 1987-1988 and worked under Putin in the St Petersburg mayor's office. He was deputy head of the FSB, the successor of the KGB, in 1999-2000, when Putin was the service's director. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Richard Williams)