Edelman's Russian practice has installed a new management team and laid off several employees in its Moscow office.

Kerry Irwin is the new general director of the Moscow team, along with Natalya Malyova, a new hire who will oversee the technology and digital practice areas, and 14-year Edelman veteran Svetlana Plotnitskaya. Both of their titles are senior vice president.

All three will report to Chris Dobson, general manager of strategic and emerging markets for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The changes are effective immediately.

“Our goal is to become the agency of choice in Russia, by providing consistently excellent service and thought leadership to clients both locally and across the network,” Dobson said in a press release.

The new management team is part of a restructuring in Edelman’s Moscow office that also involved layoffs. Dobson confirmed that 11 people were let go from the firm’s Russia practice. (He said “seven or eight” people were hired as well.) Employees whose jobs were terminated received a notice on May 31.

According to Dobson, the vast majority of the layoffs are in non-client facing roles and that the impact on client delivery will be small.

“We restructured slightly to make the team more responsive,” Dobson told PR Daily about the layoffs.

Dobson described the moves as an important step for the Russian business and said to expect additional announcements in the coming weeks.

Edelman has more than 63 offices and more than 4,200 employees worldwide. It is the largest independent PR firm.