Putin dismisses head of Russia’s troubled Dagestan region

Putin appointed Magomedsalam Magomedov to a role in the presidential administration, the Kremlin statement said, removing him from the post of provincial head that he had held since being appointed in 2010.

Ramzan Abdulatipov, a ruling United Russian party deputy from the region in Russia’s lower house of parliament, was named to replace him as acting head.

Throughout the 12 years since Putin rose to power and crushed a separatist revolt in Chechnya, Russia has battled a simmering insurgency across its mainly Muslim Caucasus mountain provinces.

Dagestan is now the epicentre of militant violence in region, where suicide bombings, sniper attacks on officials and shootouts at road checkpoints area near daily occurrence.