The Moscow Oblast Duma has unanimously voted to make longtime Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu the region's governor.
Shoigu was nominated to the post by President Dmitry Medvedev.
Shoigu will replace Boris Gromov, the general who led the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
Gromov, who has been the Moscow region's governor since 2000, is due to step down in May.
Shoigu has been Russia's emergency situations minister since 1994, dating back to the President Boris Yeltsin's era.
He was also among the founders of the ruling United Russia party of Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin.
Russian opposition groups have called for direct public elections of governors, rather than their selection by legislative bodies.
Shoigu was nominated to the post by President Dmitry Medvedev.
Shoigu will replace Boris Gromov, the general who led the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
Gromov, who has been the Moscow region's governor since 2000, is due to step down in May.
Shoigu has been Russia's emergency situations minister since 1994, dating back to the President Boris Yeltsin's era.
He was also among the founders of the ruling United Russia party of Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin.
Russian opposition groups have called for direct public elections of governors, rather than their selection by legislative bodies.