The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed his close former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin for secretary of the State Council, the advisory body of the Russian head of state, Reuters reported.
After being re-elected to a new six-year term earlier this year, Putin appointed Dyumin as an adviser specializing in the defense industry.
This morning, the decree signed by Putin certifying Dumin's appointment to the State Council was also published on the Kremlin website.
Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov said earlier this month that many believe Putin sees Dyumin as his successor. The Russian president is starting a new six-year term and is expected to be in power for many more years. Although there is no reliable information about who he would name as his successor, the name Dyumin has long been the subject of speculation among Moscow's elite, according to Reuters.
Before being appointed to the Kremlin earlier this month, 51-year-old Dyumin was the regional governor of the Tula region outside Moscow.
In 1995, Dyumin joined Russia's Federal Security Service, which is responsible for the security of the Kremlin's elite, and guarded Putin during his first two terms as head of state. The newly appointed secretary of the State Council was also the deputy head of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate.