Sochi: Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed ministerial jobs to a former bodyguard and the son of an ex-intelligence chief, promoting trusted lieutenants with security ties at the start of what, under the constitution, will be his last term in office.

In a new Cabinet line-up approved by Putin, established big-hitters, such as veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, kept their jobs, suggesting there would be little change of tack on policy in the new presidential term.

One new entrant to the Cabinet was Yevgeny Zinichev, 51, a former deputy director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), who becomes head of the high-profile Emergencies Ministry.

A biography carried by state-run media said he was born in St Petersburg, which is also Putin's home city. Then from 1987 to 2015 he served in the state security services, a similar career path to the one taken by Putin, himself a former KGB spy.