General Nikolai Bordyuzha, the new Russian chief of staff appointed by President Yeltsin on Monday, has said he will concentrate on rooting out corruption.

In an interview with the Russian television station, NTV, Mr Bordyuzha said the problem had reached the upper echelons of Russian society, and that co-ordination of the fight against crime must come from the presidential administration.

Mr Bordyuzha's predecessor as chief of staff, Valentin Yumashev, was sacked by President Yeltsin on Monday, along with several other aides whom he accused of failing to stop the erosion of trust in presidential authority.