Putin dismisses jailed Kirov region governor

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the governor of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, on Thursday, a month after he was jailed on a charge of accepting a bribe. Once a leader of a liberal opposition party, the Union of Rightist Forces, Belykh was one of Russia's few provincial governors not to share Putin's political views. Belykh, who has described his arrest as unlawful, was dismissed "on the grounds of losing trust of the President of the Russian Federation," according to a decree on the Kremlin website. Putin appointed Igor Vasilyev, the head of the Russian federal registration service, as interim Kirov governor. (Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Lidia Kelly)