State Duma approves Alikhanov as Russian industry and trade minister

MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - The State Duma approved Kaliningrad region Governor Anton Alikhanov for the post of Russian minister of industry and trade at its plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin submitted Alikhanov's nomination to the Duma along with other candidates for government positions and deputy prime minister portfolios in the new government late last week.

Alikhanov earlier worked at the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry and "was a member of a consultative board on industry at the Eurasian Economic Commission collegium," the government said in a communique dedicated to the submission of candidates to be included in the new Russian government.

Denis Manturov, the former industry and trade minister, has been nominated for the post of first deputy prime minister. His candidacy was approved by Duma members on Monday.

Born in Sukhumi in 1986, Alikhanov worked in the Manturov-led team at the Industry and Trade Ministry from 2013 to 2015 as a deputy director and the director for state regulation of foreign trade activities. Prior to that, from 2009, he held various positions at the Russian Ministry of Justice (specifically, he worked as a specialist/expert in the legal department at the ministry's branch in the Moscow region, a leading advisor to the economic planning section within the ministry's administrative department). On September 22, 2015, Alikhanov arrived at the Kaliningrad region administration as a deputy head of the regional government. On October 2016, he became the acting governor and on September 29, 2017 the governor of Russia's Kaliningrad region