MOSCOW, JANUARY 3: On his first day of office in the Kremlin, after assuming the duty of acting President, last week, Vladimir Putin fired former Russian President Boris Yeltsin's controversial younger daughter Tatyana Dyachenko.Putin also sacked Yeltsin's press secretary Dmitry Yakushkin, along with two deputy heads of presidential administration.Dyachenko had been working as Yeltsin's image maker since 1997 and accompanied his father on all foreign trips. She had been one of the key players, influencing Yeltsin's policy decisions.Her name has been associated with the ``Yeltsin family,'' a Kremlin caucus, consisting of top Kremlin officials and Russia's top business tycoons Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich, who have recently been elected for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.Recently, Russian media accused, Tatyana had allegedly been involved in money-laundering cases.Putin also met today with the chairman of Russia's Constitutional Court Marat Baglai and discussed the possible datefor presidential elections.Before demiting office, Yeltsin signed a decree for presidential elections to be held on March 26. Under the constitution, presidential elections should be held within three months.Ekho Moskvy radio said, quoting Baglai that Putin may ask the Federation Council, the upper house, to fix an earlier date for presidential elections.Putin is more or less certain to win the Presidential election, a top aide has said. The tough-talking former spy is hugely popular, and mounting a credible campaign against him in such a short time seems an insurmountable task.Asked if anybody other than Putin could win, first deputy Kremlin Chief of Staff Igor Shabdurasulov said on Sunday: ``I think such an outcome is unrealistic.'' He said the best result would be for Putin to win outright in a first round because holding a second round run-off would ``waste time''.
