Russian President Vladimir Putin fired First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Tytov without explaining the reasons, TASS reports. The dismissal decree was published on the official legal information portal of Russia.
“To dismiss Volodymyr Gennadiyovych Titov from the post of First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation,” reads the decree, which entered into force from the moment of its publication.
Volodymyr Tytov has held the position of First Deputy Minister since April 22, 2013, responsible for relations with European countries and administrative issues. Before that, he was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2005. Titov has been working in Russian diplomacy since 1980, holding various diplomatic positions both in the central apparatus of the ministry and abroad, in particular in the Russian embassy in Sweden. He was also the ambassador to Bulgaria.
The decree did not specify the reason for Titov’s dismissal, as confirmed by the Russian news site Lenta.
The release comes amid a series of arrests of high-ranking officials on corruption charges, the latest of which took place last Friday. Anti-corruption measures began on April 23 with the arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, a close associate of former Defense Minister Serhii Shoigu. Since then, at least five soldiers and officials, mostly from the Ministry of Defense, have been arrested.
Russian media do not report that Titov was involved in corruption cases.
