| The Federation Council removed Andrei Vikharev from the post of vice speaker of the Senate Yesterday, the Federation Council voted to remove Andrei Vikharev from the post of vice speaker of the chamber. On the eve of the meeting, the former deputy head of the Federation Council, Mr. Vikharev, submitted a letter of resignation of his own free will, which clearly facilitated the task of the Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov - to put an end to the scandal that flared up on his own initiative as quickly as possible. In order not to wash dirty linen in public on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, the senators decided to vote for resignation behind closed doors. But, as Senator Vladimir Slutsker admitted to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, “there was no particular litter.” “The point was to satisfy the statement of Andrei Vikharev himself,” Mr. Slutsker said and added that, in his opinion, “managers have the right to choose who to work with, especially if subordinates confirm their desire to leave.” According to the senators, before the vote, the speaker of the chamber admitted to his colleagues that he had made a personnel mistake by nominating Mr. Vikharev for the post of his deputy. Moreover, upon leaving the meeting room, Mr. Mironov innocently told reporters that he simply could not “work with him further,” refusing to answer the question “why?” Other members of the Federation Council also refused to comment on the real reason for Mr. Vikharev’s resignation. However, a source of the Vremya Novostei newspaper in the Federation Council said that the “misunderstanding” between high-ranking senators began “with a domestic quarrel between the years. Vikharev and Mironov in a hotel room in Irkutsk,” where the chamber traveled to the Baikal Forum last September. According to the source, Mr. Vikharev, who made an “unexpected career,” showed himself to be “unsystematic” by not accepting the rules of the game adopted in the new-style chamber. The source did not explain exactly what rules were being discussed, but said that Mr. Vikharev “has always been an emotional person and sometimes indulges in excess alcohol.” If this is really the case, then Mr. Mironov, who said during the confirmation of Mr. Vikharev to the post of his deputy that he had known Andrei Anatolyevich “for a long time,” was not aware of the above-mentioned features of his protégé.
As for the tacit consent of the senators, who immediately assumed the position of a repentant speaker, it would be difficult to expect anything different. What can we say about ordinary senators, even if the leadership of the chamber chose not to comment on anything to journalists?
Apparently no longer trusting his own personnel instincts, Mr. Mironov assured the senators that the discussion of a new candidate for the post of Deputy Speaker on Social Issues would be broad and open, and the appointment itself would take place in two weeks. As the Vremya Novostei newspaper has already written, the main candidate for this post will be the head of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, Valentina Petrenko. Marina SAIDUKOVA |
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