Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed several more ministers and deputy prime ministers, according to the relevant presidential decrees, TASS reports.

This is the first Russian government formed under the new procedure envisaged by the 2020 constitutional amendment. Before being appointed, all the candidates were considered and approved by parliament. Once approved by either of the houses of parliament, the candidates could not be rejected by the president.

Along with the prime minister, the new Russian government consists of ten deputy prime ministers and 21 ministers. The number of ministries remained unchanged compared to the previous government. Five ministers, namely the interior, foreign, defense, emergencies, and justice ministers, are subordinate directly to the president, while the rest are accountable to the prime minister.

Putin also reappointed directors of the federal services, also after consultations at the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament. They are director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, director of the National Guard Service Viktor Zolotov, director of the Federal Guard Service Dmitry Kochnev, and chief of the main directorate for special presidential programs, Alexander Linets.

The new government was upgraded to about 13 percent in terms of reshuffles. Viktoria Abramchenko, who was in charge of environmental issues as a deputy prime minister, Sergey Shoigu, who headed the defense ministry, Nikolai Shulginov, who headed the energy ministry, and Oleg Matytsin, who headed the ministry of sport, vacated their offices and left the cabinet.

Shoigu, however, was appointed Russian Security Council Secretary.

Several more officials changed their government positions. Thus, Dmitry Patrushev and Vitaly Savelyev ascended from ministers to deputy prime ministers. Andrey Belousov, who had been first deputy prime minister, was appointed minister of defense. Denis Manturov vacated the office of minister of industry and trade but was promoted to first deputy prime minister.

Several governors filled the vacancies in the government. Thus, former governor of the Kaliningrad Region Aton Alikhanov was appointed minister of industry and trade, Mikhail Degtyarev (Khabarovsk Region) was appointed minister of sport, Roman Starovoit (Kursk Region) became minister of transport, Sergey Tsivilev (Kuzbass) - energy minister. Oksana Lut, who has been first deputy minister of agriculture was appointed minister.

Deputy Prime Ministers Tatiana Golikova, Alexander Novak, Alexey Overchuk, Marat Khusnullin, and Dmitry Chernyshenko retained their positions. Dmitry Grigorenko and Yury Trutnev will also continue as deputy prime minister and chief of the government’s administration and deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far East, respectively.

Sergey Lavrov, Anton Siluanov, and Maxim Reshetnikov retained their positions as foreign, finance, and economic development ministers, respectively.

Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov, Minister of Labor Anton Kotyakov, Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Science Valery Falkov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko, Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, Minister of Construction Irek Faiizullin, Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev, and Minister of the Far East Development Alexey Chekunkov were reappointed to their posts.

The president is expected to meet with new government soon, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the president is leaving for a visit to China within days and will be accompanies by a government delegation.