The Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has appointed former Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov as Russia’s ambassador to the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, which is recognized by most countries as part of Georgia.According to Russian investigative outlet Astra, the appointment was confirmed on Friday, following earlier reporting of Gladkov’s resignation on May 13, alongside Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz, with Putin naming Major General Alexander Shuvaev as acting governor of Belgorod and Yegor Kovalchuk to lead Bryansk. Both governors received the Order of Alexander Nevsky shortly after leaving office.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“He is the kind of person who could not just hand over the region and walk away – he carries things through to the end,” Astra reported, citing BBC Russian service’s sources close to Gladkov, noting that the former governor had shown no intention of stepping down and was still preparing for a future election campaign as of late March.Shuvaev’s record in UkraineShauvaev, now running the Belgorod region, led the 1st Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the 1st Donetsk Army Corps during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a unit that drew significant scrutiny when his appointment was announced.After speaking with former members of the unit alongside their families, Astra reported that the brigade ran an unlawful detention site inside a shuttered factory in Makiivka, where servicemen were physically abused and had weights fastened to their legs.