Ex-rebel leaders detail role played by Putin aide in east Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Top-level Kremlin advisor Vladislav Surkov speaks before Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev's last annual state of the nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 22, 2011. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A top aide to Vladimir Putin decides how the pro-Moscow administration of eastern Ukraine is run and who gets what jobs there, three former rebel leaders said, challenging Kremlin denials that it calls the shots in the region.   

Their comments to Reuters shed light on the role played by the secretive Vladislav Surkov, who has long been at the Russian president's side. The Kremlin says his official role is to advise Putin on Ukraine, where the rebels are fighting government forces.