Translated material
Sami with Ussami
Alexander Khloponin retained the Krasnoyarsk Territory for his team
The list of candidates for the post of governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory was presented yesterday to President Dmitry Medvedev by the United Russia party. Let us recall that this position remained vacant after on January 19, the head of state appointed the now former head of the region, Alexander Khloponin, as both deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary representative in the newly created North Caucasus Federal District. In order for Mr. Khloponin to be able to combine these two positions, it was necessary to amend the federal constitutional law “On the Government” and the federal law “On the State Civil Service” - yesterday the president signed the corresponding changes adopted by the State Duma a few days earlier.Meanwhile, tomorrow two weeks will expire from the day when Alexander Khloponin left his post as head of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Yesterday it became known that United Russia is offering the president a choice of three candidates. These are Acting Governor Edkham Akbulatov, General Director of the Kalmar Limited Liability Company Lev Kuznetsov and Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak.
There are no Varangians among the candidates - all applicants are from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, so that it would be positively received in the region. The chairman of the regional legislative assembly, Alexander Uss, who in 2003 was Mr. Khloponin’s closest rival in the gubernatorial elections, admitted yesterday that “the topic of whether Krasnoyarsk residents will become candidates or not sounded quite significant, since the region has decent personnel potential and a solid bench.” “It was important for us that he was a professionally trained person, a member of the team of the president and the United Russia party, and that he considered our territory his main priority,” the speaker explained. - And when it became known what candidates the party was proposing, we were doubly pleased, since these are people whose biography is inextricably linked with our region. We are grateful to United Russia for this decision.”
All three candidates can safely be called people from Alexander Khloponin’s team. Lev Kuznetsov and Alexander Novak previously worked as his first deputies; Edkham Akbulatov now holds the position of regional prime minister. Of all three, only Mr. Kuznetsov is not a native Krasnoyarsk resident, but he lived and worked in the region for 11 years.
President of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation Mikhail Vinogradov regards this as “a great lobbying success for Khloponin.” “There was talk that federal-level heavyweights not from Khloponin’s team would come to the region,” he reminded Vremya Novostey. Indeed, even yesterday morning, before the announcement of the list of candidates, a number of sources named government representative in the Federation Council Andrei Yatskin, head of the executive committee of United Russia Andrei Vorobyov, general director of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Strzhalkovsky and even the famous oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, whom Mr. Khloponin once persuaded him to register in the Krasnoyarsk Territory so that the budget would be replenished from the taxes he paid.
“The rumors were not confirmed,” states Mr. Vinogradov, “and from this point of view, it doesn’t even matter who the three will be chosen. I do not rule out that even at this stage, Khloponin will have the last word in choosing one of the three. The figures are generally comparable, although Kuznetsov is more from Norilsk, Akbulatov is more from Krasnoyarsk, and Novak has more leadership experience at the federal level.”
Some sources claim that Mr. Khloponin himself pointed to Lev Kuznetsov as his successor. The final choice rests with the head of state: since the Krasnoyarsk regional legislative assembly, like almost all regional parliaments, is reliably controlled by United Russia, there is no doubt that the deputies will approve any candidate Dmitry Medvedev likes.