MOSCOW, Sept 13 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin late Monday appointed a new government chief of staff, amid moves to step up Kremlin control over Russia's regions and to improve security in the north Caucasus after the Beslan school hostage tragedy.
Putin appointed Sergei Naryshkin, a former government administration deputy head, as the new government chief of staff, the Russian news agencies reported, quoting the Kremlin's press office.
Naryshkin, who will shortly be 50, is a native of Russia's second largest city Saint Petersburg, as is Putin. Like the Russian leader, he worked at the Saint Petersburg city hall during the first half of the 1990s.
Naryshkin replaces Dmitry Kozak, who was appointed presidential envoy for southern Russia, a region that comprises the North Caucasus, including war-torn Chechnya and North Ossetia, where the Beslan hostage siege took place.
Kozak will also head a newly created federal commission charged with coordinating the authorities' activities in southern Russia, whose main objective will be to find ways to improve the standard of living in the north Caucasus.
Kozak's predecessor as presidential envoy for southern Russia, former Saint Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev, was appointed head of a newly created regional development ministry.
Earlier monday, Putin called for a new system of selecting regional leaders that would give the Kremlin a direct and powerful say in the matter.
The Russian leader also called for a new system of proportional representation for filling all 450 seats in the State Duma, a break from the present system under which half are filled proportionately and half by direct majority vote.