MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has described media reports alleging that its director, Sergei Naryshkin, might be appointed Federation Council speaker as baseless rumors.
"The rumors published in today's edition of the newspaper Kommersant are baseless," the agency's press service said in a statement on Wednesday.
The newspaper Kommersant said earlier in the day, citing sources in government agencies, that current Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko might leave her position and head a different agency in the coming months, and that her likely replacement would be SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin.