MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Butin as First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.

"Appoint Sergey Vladimirovich Butin as the First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation," the presidential decree says.

Sergey Butin was born in 1964; he graduated from the Moscow State University Institute of Asian and African Studies. He speaks English and Japanese.

Since 1996, he served in various diplomatic offices in the Russian Foreign Ministry central apparatus and abroad - in Japan, in particular. Between 2017 and 2023, he led the Foreign Minister’s Office. He was appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister in May, 2023; in this office, he supervised staff operations and the general secretariat.