MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Mikhail Galuzin as deputy foreign minister, relieving him of his post as the ambassador to Japan, according to presidential decrees that were published on a government website on Friday.

"To appoint Galuzin Mikhail Yurievich as deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation," one decree said.

The other decree relieved Galuzin of his duties as a Russian ambassador to Japan.

Galuzin replaces Igor Morgulov who was appointed as Russia’s ambassador to China in September.

Mikhail Galuzin started his diplomatic career in 1983. He worked in various positions at the Soviet - and later Russian - embassy in Japan. He headed the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third Department of Asia from 2010 to 2012. He then took the post of a Russian ambassador to Indonesia (2012-2017) and Japan (from January 2018). He speaks Japanese and English.