Former Altai Governor Alexander Surikov will be named the new ambassador to Belarus, Kommersant reported Wednesday.
The newspaper said the Kremlin contacted Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko last week and informed him that Surikov, currently serving as an aide to Anatoly Kvashnin, the presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District, would be the new ambassador, and Lukashenko did not object.
Surikov was defeated by entertainer Mikhail Yevdokimov in an April 2004 election in the Altai region. His loss was seen as an embarrassment for the Kremlin.
The Kremlin`s last attempt to appoint an ambassador to Belarus, in August, fell flat after the nominee, former Saratov Governor Dmitry Ayatskov, told reporters that Lukashenko should "get off his high horse."
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