MOSCOW, January 21./TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has urged the new government to always remember that confidence was placed in them by the president and the people.

The prime minister made an appeal to the new Cabinet at the first government session that began right after the president had personally congratulated the ministers on the appointment.

"I want to congratulate all of you on new appointments, to wish you success," Mishustin said. "I want us to think about how to justify the confidence of the president, of our people at all stages of our activities," Mishustin added.

The prime minister also wished the members of the previous Cabinet "success and employing their skills in other important positions." He noted that the previous government "had to face big challenges."

"The main thing, as the president said, is that stable macro-economic conditions were created by the former members of the government for further development. I expect that we will be relying on these conditions in our activities," Mishustin added.

Russia’s government said it would resign on January 15, just hours after President delivered his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly (both houses of Russia’s parliament), announcing ambitious measures of social protection and putting forward a proposal to amend Russia’s Constitution. In particular, he spoke about delegating to the State Duma the authority of approving the candidate for prime minister, along with the deputy prime ministers and ministers nominated by the new prime minister. Later in the day, at Putin’s meeting with the cabinet, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said it was right in this context for the government to resign in conformity with Article 117 of Russia’s Constitution.

On January 16, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, backed the president’s pick for prime minister, and Putin immediately signed a decree appointing Mikhail Mishustin as the country’s prime minister. A new government was appointed on Tuesday.