Vladimir Putin, the incoming Russian prime minister, has named his cabinet line-up, re-appointing most key ministers and taking some high-level figures from his previous Kremlin team with him to his new post.

Dmitry Medvedev, who succeeded Putin as president last Wednesday, approved the names quickly at a formal meeting on Monday.

Putin said he would re-appoint Alexei Kudrin, seen by markets as a guarantor of Russia's free-market policies, as finance minister.

Sergei Lavrov will stay as foreign minister and Viktor Zubkov, the former prime minister, stays in the cabinet as one of two first deputy prime ministers.

The other is Igor Shuvalov, who was Putin's top economic policy aide at the Kremlin.