On September 14, State Duma deputies began discussing Viktor Zubkov’s candidacy for the post of Prime Minister. Vladimir Putin nominated him as a candidate on September 12. The majority of State Duma factions declared their support for Viktor Zubkov for the post of head of the Cabinet of Ministers. Deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will vote against.

On the morning of September 14, the Communist Party faction proposed postponing consideration of the issue of confirming the prime minister to a later time. According to the representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Viktor Tyulkin, the State Duma may look like a “puppet body”, voting on the prime minister’s candidacy only on the second day after its submission. According to Viktor Tyulkin, the choice of the prime minister in the last months of the parliament’s work shows disrespect for the next convocation of the State Duma. Communist Party deputy Viktor Kuznetsov drew attention to the fact that it is inappropriate to appoint Viktor Zubkov without accepting the report of the current acting Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. “We should have considered Fradkov’s report on issues of state building. This should be more important than any personnel changes,” said Viktor Kuznetsov. After the communists expressed their position, the State Duma held a vote on the issue of postponing the consideration of Viktor Zubkov’s candidacy. 45 deputies voted for the transfer, with the required 226, and 38 were against.

The representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Ivan Melnikov said that the communists will vote against the candidacy of Viktor Zubkov. “We just had a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of our party, where it was decided to recommend that members of the Communist Party faction vote against the appointment of Mr. Zubkov to the post of head of government,” said Ivan Melnikov. “Some people decided that our deputies simply would not participate in the vote, this is not so. We will vote against it,” he added. According to Ivan Melnikov, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov will speak in the State Duma when discussing the candidacy of Viktor Zubkov, justifying the party’s position.

Viktor Zubkov arrived in the Duma half an hour before the start of the discussion. Accompanied by State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov and Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the State Duma, Alexander Kosopkin, Zubkov proceeded to the plenary meeting hall.

Speaking to the deputies, Viktor Zubkov spoke about the priorities of future work. “I consider the priorities of my work to be strategic guidelines and a program of specific actions, which were outlined in the President’s Address to the Federal Assembly - ensuring stability of economic and social development and giving greater dynamics to the entire work of the government, both through a more efficient structure and increasing the personal responsibility of officials,” said Zubkov. “Education is a fateful issue for our country,” he added. Zubkov noted that without high-quality training for students in Russian schools and universities, Russia will not have an “advanced economy.”

“I believe it is absolutely right to concentrate the government’s efforts on the development of traditionally powerful industries for our country - aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding, and here, of course, the state corporations being created in these areas should play a big role,” said Viktor Zubkov.

The candidate for prime minister confirmed that he intends to carry out personnel changes in the social block of the government: “Naturally, we will take measures, personnel changes are overdue and will be accepted.”

“It is necessary to increase the country’s competitiveness, but this can only be done by maintaining macroeconomic stability in the country. We must first of all ensure a reduction in inflation, protect ourselves from excessive fluctuations of the ruble and at the same time accumulate opportunities for further tax cuts,” he said, speaking to deputies.

Viktor Zubkov spoke out against the introduction of censorship in the media. “This is probably not entirely correct, so, of course, we probably won’t introduce any kind of censorship now, and we shouldn’t do it,” Zubkov said, answering the deputies.

“Violence should not be a measure of achieving some political, economic and other goals. There are democratic procedures, we need to reach more agreements in a calm, peaceful way,” Zubkov said, answering a question from LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky about his attitude to the events of 1917. Zubkov added that history must be respected, but at the same time remember mistakes.

Viktor Zubkov spoke in favor of increasing wages for military personnel.

“Military personnel must be under the constant attention of the state and government. There are two ways to support them socially: increasing wages and building housing,” he said.

The head of the Duma Committee on Rules, Oleg Kovalev, said that the discussion of Viktor Zubkov’s candidacy will be held in the open with mandatory broadcasting. In half an hour, each faction of the State Duma will be able to ask two questions to the candidate for prime minister.

Discussion of Zubkov's candidacy began in the State Duma