Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has fired his hard-line point man on Ukraine who directed the Kremlin’s campaign that fuelled separatism in eastern Ukraine and triggered a deadly conflict. The long-rumoured dismissal of presidential adviser Vladislav Surkov was cautiously welcomed by officials in Ukraine who are hopeful for a peace settlement. Vladislav Surkov, who has served in different capacities at the Kremlin and in the cabinet since 1999, was formally dismissed on Tuesday evening, and Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday he was not offered another position. Dubbed the Kremlin’s "grey cardinal," 55-year-old Mr Surkov has been credited with providing an ideological backing for the Putin rule, coining the term “sovereign democracy” to explain a rollback on democratic freedoms and efforts to rein in Russia’s political scene....