Russian President Vladimir Putin has nominated a longtime aide, Elvira Nabiullina, to run the Central Bank, making her the first woman to take charge of the country's monetary policy.

Putin said Tuesday he would present the candidacy of Nabiullina, currently a presidential economic advisor, to Russia's parliament. The vote is expected to be a formality as it is controlled by the Kremlin.

Nabiullina is a Putin loyalist best known for overseeing Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization as economic development minister, a post she held from 2007 to 2012.

The outgoing Central Bank chief, Sergei Ignatiev, who is to leave in June, caused an uproar last month when he told the Vedomosti business daily that $49 billion a year is laundered from Russia, half of it by a single criminal group he declined to name.