As Vladimir Putin’s term in office approaches its limit, many have wondered if the Russian president really will hand over the reigns of power. Putin’s latest command grab appears to confirm those fears.

President Putin just placed a close friend in charge of a newly created committee. The new investigations committee, called Sledstvennyy Komitet (KS), will have authority over the General Procurator’s Office and thus authority over all investigations conducted in Russia, U.S. officials said.

That means that the new panel will effectively strip Russia’s current prosecutor’s office of its power of criminal prosecution, placing all 8,000 national prosecutors under the authority of President Putin’s former classmate Aleksander Bastrykin.

Bastrykin, as head of the new committee and of a national team of investigators, will hold significant power in Russia, and will be answerable only to the president. According to Geostrategy-Direct.com, this new structure will effectively give President Putin the power to determine whether or not investigations should proceed. Under the previous system, investigative decisions were the responsibility of Russia’s general prosecutor.

Some worry that Putin will be able to use his powers to investigate and intimidate political rivals.

Under current Russian law, Putin is to relinquish the presidency at the end of his current term, which expires in 2008. Although Putin has maintained that he will step down at that time, it looks like arrangements are being made so that he can transfer power to someone of his choosing—or make a bid to hold on to the reigns himself.