Russia: Naryshkin appointed head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency

The chairman of the Russian State Duma Sergei Naryshkin accepted President Vladimir Putin’s offer to become the new head of the country’s foreign intelligence service in Moscow on Thursday.
Naryshkin said that he "understand well a non-public nature of the Foreign Intelligence Service especially in comparison with the State Duma". He also noted similarities in the two roles: "I realise that the scale of the tasks and the outcome of the service in ensuring the strategic interests of the state is enormous".
Putin praised former head of the country’s foreign intelligence service, Mikhail Fradkov for his work and underlined that he "performed his duty in the best possible way". Putin expressed his hope that "Fradkov's knowledge and skills will be used for the benefit of the state in another position".
The decree officially making Naryshkin the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (also known as the SVR) is expected to be signed by the president soon. He will take over from Mikhail Fradkov who himself was appointed to take over as the head of Russian Railways. The appointment comes just four days after Russia’s parliamentary elections that saw Naryshkin return as the Chairman of the State Duma.