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Oleg Safonov, Russia’s deputy interior minister, has been appointed Presidential Envoy to the Russian Far East by President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Safonov, 47, had served in Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs since November 2006. As the deputy interior minister, Safonov supervised the operations of the Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Department.

The newly appointed envoy replaced Kamil Iskhakov, the presidential envoy to the Russian Far Eastern District appointed in November 2005.

At his meeting with Safonov on Tuesday, Putin stressed that the Russian Far East is “one of the country’s most complex regions” saying that fighting crime is one of the priority tasks, a statement from presidential site www.kremlin.ru said.

“I am well aware of the Russian Far East’s importance and its problems and will do my best to put attention to developing the region’s social sector, economics and industry,” the statement cited Safonov as saying.