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Putin reshuffles top posts in westernmost Kaliningrad Region

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has transferred acting Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Yevgeny Zinichev to another job on his request and appointed Regional Government Chairman Anton Alikhanov as the region’s new head, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Zinichev’s resignation

"Acting Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Yevgeny Zinichev has turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to transfer him to another job for family reasons," Peskov said.

"The president granted this request," the Kremlin spokesman added.

Putin appointed Zinichev as the acting governor on July 28 this year after accepting the resignation of previous head Nikolai Tsukanov of his own free will.

Zinichev was born in 1966 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). From 1987 to 2015 he held various posts in state security bodies. In 2015 he was appointed as the head of the Russian Federal Security Service’s branch for the Kaliningrad Region.

New acting governor

Putin has appointed Chairman of the Kaliningrad Region Government Anton Alikhanov as the region’s new acting head.

"Today the head of state has received Anton Alikhanov who heads the government of the Kaliningrad Region and, following the results of this meeting, appointed him as the acting governor of the region," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"The relevant decree will be signed in the imminent future," Peskov said.

Alikhanov was born on September 17, 1986 in the city of Sukhumi in the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He graduated from the All-Russian State Tax Academy, specializing in finances and credit and law. He is a Candidate of Sciences (Economics).

From 2010, Alikhanov worked in the Russian Justice Ministry and from 2013 he went over to work in the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry.

By order of the Kaliningrad Region governor of September 22, 2015, Alikhanov was appointed as deputy chairman of the region’s government.