ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Leonid Tyagachyov, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), was elected Thursday a senator to the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, to represent Russia's southern Rostov Region.

Tyagachyov, 60, was elected unanimously by all 32 regional legislators in a secret ballot vote.

The ROC president, who has held the post since 2001, having been re-elected in 2005, said that despite being elected senator he would not resign from his post on the committee.

"There is no doubt about it," Tyagachyov said. "The [Russian] Olympic Committee plays the ultimate role in my life and in my career."

He said that the post of ROC president is an elected position and that a new president will be elected in 2009, adding that he intended to start preparing his successor after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.