Matvienko: I'm not sure that I want to become a speaker

The governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko at a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev said that so far she doubts regard to the proposal to head the Federation Council, RIA Novosti reports. "I have a dual state: on the one hand, I feel responsible to the city, on the other hand, I consider the post of the Speaker of the Council of the Federation to be a huge responsibility. Therefore, I came to consult you," Matvienko said. Medvedev advised Matvienko to "hold consultations with colleagues." I think that it would be possible to consult with colleagues if you feel support - go through the whole procedure, ”the president said.

On the eve of Kommersant, he said that the heads of the two municipalities of the Okhta district, which gained fame in connection with the construction project of the Gazprom skyscraper, plan to hold additional elections to local authorities to provide Valentina Matvienko with a deputy mandate for its nomination to the Federation Council.

On Saturday, Kommersant said that Dmitry Medvedev’s support initiative to move Matvienko to the post of head of the Federation Council is rather a “black mark” than the prospect of its election for this post. The source in the presidential administration said. According to the representative of the AP, judging by the statement of Medvedev, he believes that Matvienko should not remain the governor. “Of course, this is still Medvedev’s position, but it is possible that the situation is planned by agreement with Putin,” a source in the Kremlin administration said.

Sources in Smolny, however, argue that Valentina Matvienko did not cause shock about her career prospects. So, according to the interlocutors of the publication, on Monday, the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Vladislav Surkov, came to Petersburg, where he discussed with Matvienko and the speaker of the St. Petersburg parliament Vadim Tulip preparation for the elections. "With Surkov’s presentation, it was about the fact that Matvienko, being on the" United Russia "list, would pull it down, and it is necessary to remove it from the city, replacing it with a new face. At the same time, the options for its possible movement to the State Duma, where she, like Sergey Mironov, could take advantage of the laid mandate," said one of the sources, referring to the opinion of Surkov.

Matvienko herself said that there is the possibility of its election to the Federation Council not only from St. Petersburg, but also from another region, even before the December elections. “Today, many governors' colleagues called me, supported this idea and said that they were ready to provide the conditions for the election of me to their authorities. I am very grateful to them,” Matvienko said in an interview with the program “Vesti on Saturday with Sergey Brilev”, published in the Far Eastern broadcast of the Russia channel. She said she was thinking about the sentences received.

On June 24, Dmitry Medvedev supported the proposal of a number of governors to nominate Matvienko to the speakers of the Federation Council. One of the first to the idea of ​​appointing Matvienko, the head of the Federation Council was nominated by the head of Bashkiria Rustem Hamitov. In his opinion, the governor can lead the upper house of the parliament, because he knows the problems of the regions from the inside. “There should be a person who has experience, a horizons who knows a country who has a status and a major politician, a person who has worked in the regions and, perhaps, in the government. This should be a governor,” Khamitov said.

"I like this idea, I believe that Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko is a person with great state experience, an absolutely successful governor who had previously worked in the government in leadership positions, a person who is actually suffering from a business capable of solving problems, and finally, if one of the central places of the state hierarchy will be taken by a woman will help that the state will be more modern and it will be better to develop," said it is better. In turn Medvedev.