Russia’s President Vladimir Putin dismissed the government on Wednesday and nominated the financial crime investigator Viktor Zubkov to replace Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

President Putin said parliamentary and presidential elections are “drawing closer,” thus he decided it was the adequate time to dissolve the government. He said the country must be properly prepared  for the upcoming elections and the period which follows the presidential polls in March next year.

The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, is expected to appoint Zubkov as the country’s new premier, but until then Fradkov will remain in office. Media reports said the change will take place Friday, Zubkov being already considered prime minister.

Zubkov has been the head of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service since 2001, overseeing the fight against money laundering.

He isn’t very known outside or even in Russia, but is considered to be one of the rising politicians in the country. Zubkov was one of Putin’s subordinates while he led the Saint Petersburg administration in the 1990s.

Zubkov was born on September 15, 1941 in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Ural mountain region. He graduated in 1965 from the Leningrad Agricultural Institute in economics and soon became the head of the state agricultural service in the Leningrad (St Petersburg) region.

In 2001 he was appointed first deputy finance minister and Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Committee of the ministry, remaining in those posts until 2004. The committee became the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, but Zubkov kept his seat.

Meanwhile, the centrist United Russia party approved Putin’s choice and is expected to confirm Zubkov as premier. The party supported the president’s policies in other situations and is very popular among the electorate, even if it emerged in 2001.

Several ministers are expected to leave the cabinet along with Fradkov, but their clear intentions haven’t been revealed yet. Putin didn’t gave further details about future changes, as reactions failed to appear in Moscow so far.

Media reports indicated that deputy premier Sergei Ivanov would be named Fradkov’s successor, but the country’s leader managed to stun both media and public opinion with his decision.

That is because Ivanov is very popular among voters and even regarded as being one of the top candidates in next year’s presidential run.