MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree merging Russia's Southern and Crimean federal districts into an enlarged Southern Federal District led by the former justice minister and former prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov, the Kremlin announced on Thursday.
"Reorganize the Southern Federal District and the Crimean Federal District into the Southern Federal District…Appoint Vladimir Vasilyavich Ustinov as the presidential commissioner to the Southern Federal District," the decree reads, as quoted on the Kremlin's website.
The president instructed the Russian government to implement the decree while submitting corresponding legislation amendments to the State Duma.
Ustinov has been serving as the presidential commissioner in the Southern Federal District since 2008.
