UPDATE: Putin appoints Novak as deputy PM, others as ministers

(updates headline, lede, adds details in paragraph 2)

MOSCOW, Nov 10 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees to appoint former Energy Minister Alexander Novak as a new deputy prime minister, the Kremlin said in a statement quoting decrees signed by Putin.

Besides Novak, Putin appointed hydropower giant RusHydro’s CEO Nikolai Shulginov as a new energy minister, former Far East Development Minister Alexaner Kozlov as a new natural resources and environment minister, national flagship carrier Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev as a new transport minister, former Deputy Construction, Housing, and Utilities Minister Irek Faizullin as the new minister, and CEO of the Fund for Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexei Chekunkov as a new far east development minister.

Earlier in the day, the parliament’s lower house State Duma approved all the candidates.

Under a new policy approved after amendments to the Constitution, the State Duma should approve all ministers after corresponding suggestions of the prime minister instead of law enforcement and defense ministers, which are appointed by the president after consultations with the parliament’s upper house Federation Council.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Putin increased the number of deputy prime ministers to 10 from nine, including the first deputy minister.

End %%md/jst%%