Former FSB officer Magomed Ramazanov may be appointed head of Dagestan

Putin sent him to the region as deputy envoy to combat floods

Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) Magomed Ramazanov has become the main candidate for the post of head of Dagestan, RBC and Vedomosti report, citing sources close to the presidential administration.

One of RBC’s interlocutors claims that Ramazanov was sent to the embassy of the Far Eastern Federal District to prepare for the post of governor. His appointment may be slightly delayed due to the difficult situation with floods in the region, Vedomosti writes.

Ramazanov participated in a meeting on eliminating the consequences of the flood in Dagestan, which Vladimir Putin held on April 7. During this meeting, Putin invited him to move to the region to work there as deputy plenipotentiary.

“Your knowledge of the situation, understanding of what is happening, and the ability to communicate directly with people, in my opinion, will be in demand,” Putin said.

The resignation of the current governor of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, who has held this position since October 2021, is expected in May, RBC sources say. According to them, this decision was made before the floods. Vedomosti wrote about Melikov’s possible resignation back in March. The newspaper's sources noted that the difficulty was how to change the head of the region in a flood situation.

Melikov has already submitted his resignation, writes one of the main socio-political bloggers in Dagestan, Rasul Maazov.

Before the meeting with Putin, Ramazanov did not appear in the media field, and there is no information about him in the public domain. According to Vedomosti's source, he comes from law enforcement agencies.

The Insider has established that a native of Dagestan, Magomed Ramazanov, is a former employee of the “K” department of the FSB Economic Security Service. The tasks of this department include, in particular, ensuring the stability of the financial system and suppressing attempts to interfere with it.

Employees of the “K” department participate in “gray” financial schemes without encountering opposition from inspection authorities, and have virtually unlimited powers to intervene in banking and economic processes, noted the Dossier investigative center.

Ramazanov’s father worked in the KGB and served as an employee of the presidential embassy in the Southern Federal District (SFD), wrote the Dagestan publication Chernovik.

The Kremlin is also preparing the resignation of the governors of the border Belgorod and Bryansk regions, Vyacheslav Gladkov and Alexander Bogomaz, Vedomosti sources said . According to Ashes, Gladkov’s replacement will be a former participant in the war in Ukraine, who went through the Time of Heroes personnel program, Major General Alexander Shuvaev.