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Medvedev dismisses head of Russian Federal Tourism agency

Oleg Safonov headed the agency since 2015

Oleg Safonov Valery Sharufulin/TASS

Oleg Safonov

© Valery Sharufulin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree to relieve Oleg Safonov, head of Russian Federal Agency for Tourism, from his post, the government’s press service reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, at a meeting with deputy prime ministers, Medvedev said that the Economic Development Ministry will be authorized to tackle the issues related to the tourism industry.

"We decided in this context (developing tourism - TASS) that the Economic Development Ministry of should deal with these issues, that is why we transferred the management (of tourism industry - TASS) to them. It is necessary to improve the efficiency of work. I would ask the government administration to prepare proposals on staff policy for this department," Medvedev said.

At the meeting, Medvedev also said that in the coming years, the government will allocate about 21 bln rubles ($320 mln) for the development of tourism infrastructure in the Russian regions.

Born in 1969, Oleg Safonov graduated from the State Finance Academy. He worked in several Russian banks and other institutions. In 2014, he was appointed acting head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, in 2015, he became the head of the agency.

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