Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a big reshuffle in the country’s law enforcement agencies, dismissing a number of high-ranking officials.
In a decree released by the president's official portal on Saturday, Putin fired the Southern Transport Public Prosecutor Seregei Dmitriev, Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow Igor Klimenov, and Deputy Interior Minister of the Crimea region Dmitry Neklyudov.
Two deputies of Russia's Investigative Committee, Yuri Nyrkov and Vasily Piskarev, were also relieved of their posts.
Putin promoted the committee's investigator for special cases, Lev Gura, to a senior investigator. Gura took the position of General Major Igor Krasnov, who was appointed a deputy of the Investigative Committee.
Krasnov has been investigating some of Russia's major assassinations and assassination attempts for nearly a decade. He is also well-known for his work on Russia's ultra-nationalists.
The Russian president also appointed former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as deputy chairman of the President's Economic Council in a separate decree.
The presidential decrees gave no reason for the changes in the federal agencies, which also included a number of dismissals and appointments in regional security bodies.
