Senior diplomat Pavan Kapoor, currently India’s envoy to Russia, was on Saturday appointed the new secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, while Jaideep Mazumdar, currently the ambassador to Austria, was appointed the new secretary (east).

The appointments committee of the cabinet approved both appointments, according to official notifications issued on Saturday.

People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that additional secretary Abhay Thakur, who is the officer on special duty for G20 and played a key role in negotiations during India’s presidency of the grouping of the world’s 20 largest economies, will be India’s next ambassador to Russia.

Kapoor, who belongs to the 1990 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), will take over as secretary (west) from Sanjay Verma, who resigned from the IFS on Thursday to become a member of the Union Public Service Commission. Kapoor, who has a master’s in international political economy from the London School of Economics, has also served as the envoy to Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mazumdar, an officer of the 1989 batch of the IFS who is also India’s permanent representative to UN organisations in Vienna, will replace Saurabh Kumar as secretary (east). Mazumdar earlier served as deputy chief of mission in China and Nepal and as ambassador to the Philippines. He also had a stint in the Prime Minister’s Office, where he worked on foreign affairs, defence and security issues.

The secretary (east) and secretary (west) are, along with the foreign secretary, among the five senior-most diplomats in the foreign ministry. While the secretary (east) oversees relations with countries in the eastern part of the globe, including key regions such as Southeast Asia, the secretary (west) oversees relations with western countries, including European and Eurasian states.

Thakur, a former engineer, joined the IFS in 1992. The post of the envoy in Moscow is among the most influential positions within the foreign ministry in view of India’s long-standing strategic ties with Russia. Thakur has earlier served as India’s envoy to Mauritius and Nigeria and as a director in the external affairs minister’s office, and speaks Russian.

The people said Shambhu Kumaran, who joined the IFS in 1995 and currently the ambassador to the Philippines, is expected to replace Mazumdar in Vienna.

The latest appointments are being seen as the first in a series of postings that are set to be announced in the coming weeks and months. India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Sandhu, retired on January 31 while the permanent representative to the UN, Ruchika Kamboj, is set to retire on May 31, and there is considerable speculation on who will replace them.

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra, who was due to retire on December 31, 2022, was given an extension until April 30 this year. There is still no indication whether he will be given a further extension or an important ambassadorial posting in case he isn’t granted an extension, the people said.