Putin replaced Russia's ambassador to Nigeria

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Andrei Podyelyshev as Russian ambassador to Nigeria. The corresponding decree was posted on December 27 on the Internet portal of the official publication of legal acts.

"To appoint Andrey Leonidovich Podylyshev as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria," the document reads.

By another decree, the president dismissed Alexei Shebarshin from this post. He had been the Russian ambassador to Nigeria since 2018.

Podylyshev was admitted to the diplomatic service in 1984. He served as consul general in San Francisco from 2001 to 2004, and was deputy director of the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry from 2005 to 2015. Since 2015, he has served as Russian Consul General in Istanbul.