The Kremlin on Thursday confirmed a Reuters report that Valentin Yumashev, the son-in-law of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, had quit his role as an unpaid advisor to President Vladimir Putin.

"I can confirm that about a month ago he stopped being an advisor on a voluntary basis", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Yumashev did not play a major role in decision-making as a Putin advisor, but he represented one of the few remaining links in Putin's administration to Yeltsin's rule, a period of liberal reforms and an opening-up of Russia towards the West.