NEW DELHI (TIP): Career diplomat Nikolay Kudashev has been appointed as Russia’s new ambassador to India, the Russian embassy here said.

Kudashev, a specialist in South East Asia, is currently the Deputy Director General Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

“President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin by the executive order appointed Nikolay Kudashev as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of India,” the Russian Embassy here said in a statement on Friday evening.

The appointment of Kudashev comes nearly seven months after the death of Russia’s previous ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin.

Kadakin, a fluent Hindi-speaking career diplomat considered a great friend of India, passed away on January 26 at a hospital here after a brief illness. He was 67.

Kudashev was the Russian Ambassador to Micronesia and the Marshall Islands in 2014-2015. (Source PTI)