MOSCOW, March 23: The Kremlin has created a government department to strengthen ties between Russia and former Soviet republics and help stem the rising tide of so called ?velvet? or ?orange? revolutions, the Russian press reported on Wednesday. The daily Kommersant described the move as a continuation of the Kremlin?s policy of protecting Russia?s geopolitical interests.

The reports said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had appointed communications expert Modest Kolerov as head of the department, the official aim of which will be to boost ?cultural ties with foreign countries?.

?Kolerov, who has been described by colleagues as ?a consummate anti-fascist and counter-revolutionary?, should be able to prevent ?velvet revolutions? in former Soviet states,? said Kommersant.

Soviet era leaders have been ousted recently in both Georgia and the Ukraine in bloodless shifts in power that have been dubbed ?revolutions? by the forces promoting them. Critics have accused US interests of promoting several such upheavals.

The original ?velvet revolution? took place in 1989 in what was then Czechoslovakia, as that country moved away from communism in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

More recently, a largely peaceful upheaval in Ukraine was dubbed the ?orange revolution? by its promoters.?AFP