Putin replaces Russia's only woman governor with a man

Natalya Komarova, the Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO-Yugra) announced her resignation.

She was the only woman governor in Russia. In her video message that she posted on her Telegram, Komarova said that she would have another job.

"From the first day in Yugra I knew I was home! This confidence in each of you and your faith in me helped us make our region a leader,” she noted.

Komarova headed the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in 2010.

The Kremlin highly appreciates the work that the governor has done for the region, Dmitry Peskov, an official spokesman for the presidential administration said. During the years of Komarova's service, the region was developing actively, he noted.

President Vladimir Putin appointed Tyumen Mayor Ruslan Kuharuk for the position of the Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Ruslan Kuharuk was born in the region, but worked in Tyumen all his life and served as the head of the city for the last six years.

The Khanty-Mansi region has a population of 1,532,243 as of the 2010 Census. The regional centre is the city of Khanty-Mansiysk. The peoples native to the region are the Khanty and the Mansi. They are known collectively as Ob-Ugric peoples, but the two groups only constitute 2.5 percent of the region's population today. The city of Khanty-Mansiysk is known for its Archeopark with its sculptures of mammoths and other prehistoric animals that used to inhabit the region.