Putin Names Russia’s New Foreign Minister

President Vladimir Putin named U.N. envoy Sergey Lavrov as Russia’s new foreign minister in a reshuffling of his Cabinet on Tuesday.

Lavrov’s predecessor, Igor Ivanov, was named the secretary of presidential Security Council. Ivanov had been foreign minister since the late 1990s when he was named to the job by former President Boris Yeltsin.

The reshuffle followed last month’s dismissal of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. He was replaced with Mikhail Fradkov, who had served as Russia’s envoy to the European Union.

Putin also reappointed several key members of the former Cabinet, including Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Economics Minister German Gref and Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu. He formalized Rashid Nurgaliyev, who had served as acting interior minister.