Russian President Vladimir Putin strengthened the hand of liberal modernisers in his government yesterday in a shake-up expected to accelerate economic reform once he is re-elected to the Kremlin on Sunday.

Mr Putin's new prime minister announced a line-up that slashed the number of ministries and left policy under the control of market-friendly reformers including Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Economic Minister German Gref who kept their jobs.

Market analysts gave a thumbs-up to a move that also left liberal economist Alexander Zhukov in a powerful first deputy prime minister role and handed Viktor Khristenko, formerly acting premier, a broad energy portfolio with a remit also for industry, arms production and nuclear power.

The shake-up, in which Russia's UN envoy Sergei Lavrov was appointed foreign minister to replace Igor Ivanov, followed Mr Putin's dismissal of the government of Mikhail Kasyanov late last month and the appointment of Mikhail Fradkov, a little-known bureaucrat, to succeed him.

Mr Putin is standing for re-election in a poll on Sunday which, given his huge personal ratings, he is certain to win by a landslide.

"In general, this government looks like a definite improvement on Mikhail Kasyanov's with the reduced number of ministries set to cut red tape while economic reforms are likely to gain new impetus under the Zhukov-Khristenko-Gref-Kudrin quartet," said Michael Heath, an analyst for Aton capital.

"This... is likely to see an acceleration of economic reform in Russia after the presidential election," he said.