A former fellow student of Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70-year-old Irina Podnosova, has been appointed chairwoman of Russia’s Supreme Court. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, unanimously approved the decision, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. Podnosova was nominated for the post by the Kremlin at the beginning of April. Podnosova was born in 1953 in the western city of Pskov. She graduated from the law faculty of Leningrad State University – now St Petersburg State University – in 1975. She studied there with Putin. Most recently, she was t…