President Vladimir Putin has appointed Russian diplomat of Armenian descent Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov as the country’s Ambassador to Venezuela.

By another decree, Putin dismissed Vladimir Zaemsky, who was ambassador to Venezuela, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Born in 1968, Melik-Bagdasarov graduated from MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) in 1994.

Prior to his appointment as the envoy to Venezuela, he served as Deputy Director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.