On 19 October 2026, the State Council of Tatarstan approved the appointment of Colonel General Alexander Lapin as deputy prime minister of the republic. Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov signed the appointment decree the same day. Lapin had previously been appointed acting deputy prime minister on 29 September 2026.
The State Duma, in agreement with the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, proposed to cancel the indirect elections of the heads of a number of regions of the Russian Federation, including Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
We are talking about the refusal to elect by the regional parliaments a previously known candidacy of the head of the republic out of three nominated by the President of the Russian Federation. Now it is proposed to abolish even this formal "selective" procedure.
According to the initiators, the changes are explained by the difficult turbulent period in Russia, in which unsanctioned regional changes cannot be allowed. According to the plans of the Presidential Administration, these amendments will have to come into force on January 1, 2024.