Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the governor of the Ivanovo Oblast, the 10th regional leader to lose his job in recent weeks ahead of a March 2018 presidential election.
In a decree posted on the Kremlin website on October 10, Putin accepted Pavel Konkov's resignation and appointed Stanislav Voskresensky -- until now a deputy minister of economic development -- as acting governor of the region northeast of Moscow.
Konkov, 59, is the second regional leader to be replaced this week. On October 9, Putin dismissed the governor of the Omsk region in Siberia, Viktor Nazarov, and appointed Aleksandr Burkov in his stead.
Last week, Putin replaced the heads of the North Caucasus region of Daghestan, Primorsky Krai in the Far East, the western Oryol region, and the Siberian region of Novosibirsk.
In late September, the governors of the Russian regions of Nenets, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and Samara were replaced.
Several of the new appointees, including Burkov, 50, are younger than the men they are replacing. Nazarov is 54.
The regional shake-up comes six months before the March 18 presidential election, in which Putin is widely expected to seek and secure a fourth term.
The Kremlin has relied on regional governors to secure predetermined levels of support for Putin in past elections that were heavily managed by Moscow.
