Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a replacement for a regional governor beset by corruption allegations, Reuters reports.
Putin appointed Oleg Kozhemyako as the acting governor of the petroleum-rich Sakhalin island region in Russia's Far East, according to the reports.
Kozhemyako takes the place of Alexander Khoroshavin, who was arrested earlier this month and accused of taking $5.6 million suspicion of bribery. Putin fired Khoroshavin after charges were filed, according to the Moscow Times.
Kozhemyako, 53, was formerly the governor of the Russian Far East region of Amur. Taking his place as the acting governor of that region is Alexander Kozlov, major of Amur's regional capital, Blagoveshchensk, the Moscow Times reports.
Sakhalin, an island in the North Pacific, is rich with oil and gas and has emerged as a large-scale, internationally funded petroleum-producing region.
One major project, Sakhalin-1, consists of three oil and gas fields off the island's coast. It is operated by Exxon Mobil, in partnership with several other companies.
Another project, Sakhalin-2, is touted by co-owner Shell as "one of the world's largest integerated, export-oriented oil and gas projects." It accounts for 5 percent of the world's liquefied natural gas production, sending that product to Japan and South Korea. Gazprom, Mitsui and Mitsubishi are all among Shell partners on Sakhalin-2.