Fedor Shchukin, who had previously served as acting head of the region, has been elected as the new head of the Republic of Dagestan.

Axar.az reports, citing Russian media, that Shchukin, 50, was born in the village of Pochinki in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region and spent most of his career there. He later moved to Dagestan after Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed him chairman of the republic’s Supreme Court.

Putin backed Shchukin’s candidacy for regional head on April 30. He succeeds Sergey Melikov, who led Dagestan since October 2020 and resigned after the spring 2026 floods affected the region.