Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday warned of a new purge of the country's senior regional officials - accusing them of poor management of the current financial crisis, dpa reported.
The comments came one day after Medvedev sacked four regional governors and demoted a minister, in what appeared to be a response to rising unrest as the impact of the financial crisis stalls manufacturing and causes thousands of job losses in Russia's regions.
"There will be an ongoing rotation in the cadre," Medvedev was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying at a meeting with Russia's upper house of parliament.
"In a situation where the impacts of the crisis are not subsiding but intensifying, the leaders of the Russian regions are required to have the ability to be able to work under these new conditions - to be able to work collectively and in a highly disciplined way," Medvedev told deputies.
The Kremlin said Medvedev had signed decrees Monday dismissing the governors of the Nenetsky autonomous district and the Oryol, Pskov and Voronezh regions.
The president nominated Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev, who has held his post for nearly 10 years, to take over as governor of the Voronezh region.
Analysts said the simultaneous replacement of four governors represented the largest change in the country's regional cadre in years. All of the new appointees to the posts are members of the pro-Kremlin party United Russia.
Russia's industrial production plunged 16 per cent in January, a fall that was felt most in Russia's automotive, metals and mining regions.
Moscow particularly fears social unrest in around 500 industrial towns heavily dependent on single employers', a remnant of the Soviet-era industrialization drive.
The governors fired had managed regions worst hit by growing unemployment. Russia's jobless rate spiked to 7.7 per cent in December, representing the loss of half a million jobs.
In a weekend televised address, Medvedev threw barbs at regional governors, calling them "inept and inefficient" in the face of the economic crisis and "not responsible enough in dealing with unemployment."