The lower house of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, has voted to confirm Vladimir Putin as the country's new Prime Minister. Mr Putin, a former KGB spy appointed to the premiership last week by President Boris Yeltsin, has made law and order a central theme of his manifesto.
It is thought that many deputies endorsed Mr Putin to avoid plunging the country into a new constitutional crisis. He is the fifth Russian Prime Minister in two years. President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Mr Putin's predecessor Sergei Stepashin after just three months in office.
President Yeltsin has said that Russia will take tough measures against the rebels fighting for independence in Dagestan, but he ruled out introducing a state of emergency. One of Mr Putin's first tasks as Prime Minister will be to try to crush the rebellion. Russia has claimed that 600 Islamic guerrillas have been killed in the southern Russian republic, where fierce fighting has been taking place. The figures have not been independently verified. The guerrillas declared unilateral independence and a holy war against Russia. They are being helped by co-religionists in neighbouring Chechnya.
