President Vladimir Putin's former personal security guard and newly appointed presidential aide Alexei Dyumin was appointed head of Russia's State Council on Wednesday.
“By decree of the President, Presidential Assistant Alexey Dyumin was appointed Secretary of the State Council of the Russian Federation,” says a message on the Kremlin website.
The State Council of Russia is a constitutional body consisting of senior federal officials and regional governors who advise the president and coordinate his actions on issues of national importance.
Putin elevated the role of the State Council from a largely ceremonial, low-key advisory body in the 2020 constitutional reforms.
There are rumors that Dyumin, a former deputy defense minister and deputy head of Russia's GRU military intelligence service, is a potential successor to Putin.
He previously served as governor of the Tula region south of Moscow, a key defense industry center, before being appointed presidential aide earlier this month.
Dyumin's return to federal politics in Moscow, where he will advise Putin on issues related to the military-industrial complex, coincided with the dismissal of Sergei Shoigu from the post of Defense Minister and his appointment as head of the Russian Security Council.
“[Dyumin] will look after the Defense Ministry on the one hand and balance Shoigu [and limit his influence] on the other,” an anonymous government official said earlier this month.