President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved a new Russian government that kept many veteran and senior ministers in place, but brought in a new economy minister and a new first deputy prime minister.
The new government was formed less than a week after Putin unveiled a sweeping shake-up of the political system, which led to the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister along with his entire government.
Putin went on to pick Mikhail Mishustin, a 53-year-old with almost no political profile, as his new prime minister.
On Tuesday, Putin approved the line-up of a new government.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov all kept their jobs in government, the Kremlin said.
Lavrov, 69, has been the face of Moscow’s muscular foreign policy for more than a decade and a half as the Kremlin has reasserted what President Vladimir Putin said was Russia‘s rightful standing as a world power.
But Maxim Reshetnikov will replace Maxim Oreshkin as the country’s economy minister, the Kremlin said on its websit