Sending a clear signal that loyalty will outrank experience in making government appointments, President Vladimir Putin has nominated a tank factory employee who once promised to target opposition protesters in Moscow as his new envoy to the Urals Federal District.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev insisted that the “reset” was still on during a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a weekend G8 summit at Camp David.

President Vladimir Putin on Friday appointed a confidant of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as the acting governor of the Irkutsk region, where the metals magnate has a large gold-mining operation and other businesses.

As public discontent with the government persists, President Vladimir Putin on Saturday dramatically cut the number of cars that can flash blue lights to take command of the highways — and drive other motorists mad.

Search and rescue helicopters and volunteers struggling through thick forest and mountainous terrain spotted bodies but no survivors on the Indonesian mountainside where a Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed by the time darkness forced an end to the search Thursday night.

A dark cloud was cast Wednesday on the revival of Russia’s aviation industry when a Sukhoi-built Superjet 100 with 50 people on board disappeared from the radar screens of Indonesian flight controllers.