MOSCOW, January 16./TASS/. At a session on Thursday, the State Duma (lower house) endorsed the president’s nominee, Russia’s tax chief Mikhail Mishustin, as Prime Minister.

As many as 383 lawmakers supported Putin’s choice, none were against, and 41 parliamentarians abstained.

"Colleagues, the decision has been taken. We have given consent to the appointment of Mishustin Mikhail Vladimirovich as Prime Minister by the president of the Russian Federation," Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, summing up the results of the vote.