Sergei Melikov, the former head of the republic of Dagestan, has been appointed as a senator from the western Bryansk region in Russia’s upper-house Federation Council.
Melikov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, replaced Vadim Dengin, a member of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) who ran for the lower-house State Duma in this month’s elections.
Melikov previously served as a Federation Council senator from the southern Stavropol region between 2019 and 2020 before President Vladimir Putin appointed him as regional head of Dagestan.
Russia’s Federation Council is an unelected assembly of regional representatives and presidential appointees. Bryansk region Governor Yegor Kovalchuk signed a decree appointing Melikov as senator.
Melikov, a former high-ranking military officer who served in the First Chechen War, resigned from his post in Dagestan in May following deadly floods that decimated the mountainous region.
Though appointed to stabilize one of Russia’s most complex regions, Melikov struggled to address Dagestan’s chronic infrastructure issues, with frequent power outages and poor road conditions plaguing the republic.
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