Veteran Vancouver-based CBC reporter Chris Brown is being named the public broadcaster’s correspondent in their new Moscow Bureau.

Brown will be teamed with field producer Corinne Seminoff and videographer Pascal Dumont.

Jennifer McGuire, CBC News’ General Manager and Editor in Chief, said that the new bureau represents a “timely investment.”

“In these anxious times, hardly a day passes without significant events connected to Russian interests,” she said in an internal note to CBC staff. “Moscow’s aggressive foreign policy under Vladimir Putin presents all sorts of diplomatic and strategic challenges. The domestic picture is equally striking with endless journalistic opportunities. We need to be there.”

Brown will remain in Vancouver to wrap up projects and cover the B.C. election before heading to Moscow.