Far-eastern Magadan's new governor, Vladimir Pecheny, who was appointed by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, announced the next day that he had dismissed the region's entire administration.
"The new administration will be formed gradually," Pecheny said in comments carried by RIA-Novosti.
"In connection with the fact that the term of Governor Nikolai Dudov's powers has run out, the president appointed me the acting head of the region," Pecheny said. "I made the decision to dismiss the entire composition of the region's administration."
Dudov had served as head of the region since February 2003.
Pecheny, who had served as Magadan's mayor since 2008, said he would announce all appointments as they are made. He also said he wanted to run in the gubernatorial election scheduled for September 2013.
His main objective, he said, is to stabilize the demographic situation, relocate citizens living in dilapidated housing and provide assistance to low-income citizens.
Magadan, located on the Sea of Okhotsk, is home to major ship-building and fishing industries. In the Stalin era, it was one of the main transit points for prisoners of forced labor camps, and later the administrative center for Dalstroi, a Soviet NKVD-founded mining operation that relied on forced labor.
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