Moscow: Caretaker Premier Viktor Khristenko is tipped to succeed Mikhail Kasyanov even as President Vladimir Putin is expected to formally name his choice of Prime Minister not before next week, media reports said.

In accordance with the Constitution, Putin has two weeks to name his Prime Minister and seek Duma's nod for his appointment.

In a sudden move, seen by many as an attempt to electrify the otherwise dull Presidential campaign, Putin yesterday sacked the entire Cabinet headed by Kasyanov and appointed 46-year-old Khristenko as caretaker Prime Minister.

From August 1998 to August 2000, Khristenko has been co-chairman of Indo-Russian inter-Governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and cultural co-operation.

Even though Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov are also named as the possible candidates along with the Speaker of State Duma Boris Gryzlov, Khristenko is most likely to be named Russia's 8th post-Soviet Prime Minister, newsru.com news portal reported quoting Kremlin sources.

According to ITAR-TASS, Putin has instructed Khristenko to prepare proposals for the new structure of a streamlined Cabinet within a week, a job he had promised to hand over to the new Prime Minister.