“If I am re-elected President of Russia, the procedure of tendering a resignation to a newly-elected President will be purely formal for the Cabinet that has been announced,” Mr. Putin said at a government meeting.

Alexander Zhukov was named Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s envoy to the UN, was appointed Russia’s new Foreign Minister, and Rashid Nurgaliyev became the Interior Minister. Igor Ivanov, the former Interior Minister, was appointed Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, while Sergey Ivanov retained his post of Defense Minister. Several key figures in the previous government have been re-appointed to their positions, including Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin, Economy Minister German Gref and Emergency Minister Sergey Shoigu. Viktor Khristenko was appointed Minister of Industry and Energy, Alexey Gordeyev – Agriculture and Fishing Minister, and Yury Chaika was appointed Minister of Justice.

Igor Levitin became Russia’s Transport and Communications Minister. Alexander Sokolov was appointed Culture and Information Minister, Andrey Fursenko – Education and Science Minister and Mikhail Zurabov – Minister for Healthcare and Social Development. And Yury Trutnev became Natural Resources Minister.

Mr. Putin also named his first deputy chief of staff, Dmitry Kozak, as the Cabinet's chief of staff.