MOSCOW

For the first time in official communication, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday referred to Tatarstan's leader Rustam Minnikhanov without his title as president. 

Last year, the Russian president signed a law prohibiting the heads of autonomous Russian regions from using the title of president, and Minnikhanov was the last one in Russia to use the title.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the head of the Republic of Tatarstan, a region in European Russia, was referred to as its president.

After the passing of the new law, which was criticized by Minnikhanov, Tatarstan was given until June 2022 to change the name of the role.  

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas