MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev replaced the governor of a northwest region on Saturday, apparently seeking to ensure that the ruling party remained in control there after it suffered a surprising defeat in local elections.
Mr. Medvedev’s move in the region, Murmansk, suggested that the Kremlin wanted to clamp down quickly on hints of disloyalty among its cadre of governors as it faces possible discontent at the regional level over the financial crisis.
The dismissed governor, Yuri A. Yevdokimov, is a member of the ruling party, United Russia, but he had been feuding with party leaders lately. And in the mayoral election this month in the city of Murmansk, Mr. Yevdokimov supported an independent candidate, who triumphed easily over United Russia’s nominee.
The loss in the city, which is the region’s capital and has about 320,000 people, was a rebuke to United Russia. It led to a round of recriminations that reached all the way from the Murmansk region, which borders Finland and Norway, to party headquarters in Moscow.
Governors in Russia used to be elected, but are now appointed by the president, under a system that was put in place by Russia’s paramount leader, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, when he was president in 2004. The change was widely seen as an effort by Mr. Putin to centralize power in the Kremlin.
But many mayors continue to be elected, and these elections have become a test of the ruling party’s strength.
At least three well-known candidates, for example, are expected to vie next month to become mayor of the southern city of Sochi, which is to host the Winter Olympics in 2014.
The Kremlin announced Mr. Yevdokimov’s replacement on its Web site on Saturday and, as is typically the case, the statement said he had voluntarily resigned. It seemed clear, though, that if he had not done so, he would have been dismissed.
The statement also said Mr. Medvedev had nominated Dmitri Dmitrienko, a senior federal fisheries official, to serve as governor.
