Election uncertainty leaves Russia paralysed

Russia continues to be captivated by the presidential contest between Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. For more on this story, click the link to the FT.com article below:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc7a6e24-e50b-11e0-9aa8-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1YkuIJbFM

Russian parliamentary elections

MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Monday set a Dec. 4 date for a parliamentary election that will almost certainly be dominated by the governing United Russia party and will set the stage for a presidential election early next year.       

St Petersburg news

Poltavchenko Named Acting City Governor

According to the St Petersburg Times, Georgy Poltavchenko, a former KGB officer and staunch ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, emerged Monday as the prime pick for the St. Petersburg governor’s seat, which was vacated by Federation Council-bound Valentina Matviyenko.

Poltavchenko said he considered his appointment to the position of acting governor of St. Petersburg as “a great responsibility and good opportunity to do something for his native city.”

“It is a great honor and responsibility for me to seek the position of governor,” Poltavchenko told reporters in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Matviyenko, 62, resigned Monday after sweeping the vote in two local district by-elections a day earlier. The victory made her eligible for the upper chamber, where the ruling United Russia party has promised to make her speaker. (See story, this page.)

The Kremlin kept silent on her successor until Monday, when Poltavchenko, 58, the presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, was appointed acting governor.

Poltavchenko moved to Leningrad as a first-grade school pupil and lived in the city for 40 years, he said.

The first priority of the acting governor will be “to prepare the city for the upcoming winter and fulfill all necessary social obligations,” Poltavchenko said.

Poltavchenko said he had always followed news from St. Petersburg when he worked in a federal position.

“I’ve noticed that during recent years, the city has changed for the better. What I’ve seen here makes me feel optimistic,” he said, adding that he is still only beginning to learn about the sphere in which he is to work.

Matviyenko said she welcomed the appointment of Poltavchenko to the position of the city’s acting governor.

“The fact that Poltavchenko is a politician of a federal level is an advantage,” Matviyenko said. “He will easily find essential contacts, and get support for city projects.”

It remained unclear when Matviyenko might enter the Federation Council, where the speaker’s seat has been vacant since May, when Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov was ousted by the St. Petersburg legislature, controlled by the rival United Russia party.

Matviyenko, who had served as St. Petersburg governor since 2003, steadily lost popularity with local residents in recent years, and her reshuffle is seen by observers as a Kremlin attempt to strengthen its position in the city ahead of State Duma elections in December.

Speculation had swirled about her likely successor, although most observers agreed that the job would go to another of Putin’s cadre of old St. Petersburg associates whom he worked with in the city government in the 1990s. Among the favorites were Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak — but never Poltavchenko.

Poltavchenko, born in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, grew up in Leningrad, where he met Putin through the KGB. Poltavchenko headed the city’s tax police from 1993 to 1999, when he was appointed the Kremlin’s envoy to the Leningrad region; in 2000, he was promoted to envoy of the Central Federal District.

Poltavchenko has yet to be named full-time governor, but Nikolai Petrov, a regions analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the appointment is all but guaranteed.

“He was the longest-serving Kremlin envoy, and his promotion had been expected for a long time,” Petrov said by telephone.

Expectations about Poltavchenko, whose involvement in public politics remains limited, were still hesitant Tuesday, but the leader of the city branch of the liberal Yabloko party, Maxim Reznik, welcomed him simply for not being a member of Matviyenko’s team.

“It’s a positive move,” Reznik said, Interfax reported. But he criticized the fact that residents of St. Petersburg, the country’s second-biggest city with a population of 4.8 million, will be given no say in who will govern them.

St Petersburg news

Poltavchenko Named Acting City Governor

According to the St Petersburg Times, Georgy Poltavchenko, a former KGB officer and staunch ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, emerged Monday as the prime pick for the St. Petersburg governor’s seat, which was vacated by Federation Council-bound Valentina Matviyenko.

Poltavchenko said he considered his appointment to the position of acting governor of St. Petersburg as “a great responsibility and good opportunity to do something for his native city.”

“It is a great honor and responsibility for me to seek the position of governor,” Poltavchenko told reporters in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Matviyenko, 62, resigned Monday after sweeping the vote in two local district by-elections a day earlier. The victory made her eligible for the upper chamber, where the ruling United Russia party has promised to make her speaker. (See story, this page.)

The Kremlin kept silent on her successor until Monday, when Poltavchenko, 58, the presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, was appointed acting governor.

Poltavchenko moved to Leningrad as a first-grade school pupil and lived in the city for 40 years, he said.

The first priority of the acting governor will be “to prepare the city for the upcoming winter and fulfill all necessary social obligations,” Poltavchenko said.

Poltavchenko said he had always followed news from St. Petersburg when he worked in a federal position.

“I’ve noticed that during recent years, the city has changed for the better. What I’ve seen here makes me feel optimistic,” he said, adding that he is still only beginning to learn about the sphere in which he is to work.

Matviyenko said she welcomed the appointment of Poltavchenko to the position of the city’s acting governor.

“The fact that Poltavchenko is a politician of a federal level is an advantage,” Matviyenko said. “He will easily find essential contacts, and get support for city projects.”

It remained unclear when Matviyenko might enter the Federation Council, where the speaker’s seat has been vacant since May, when Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov was ousted by the St. Petersburg legislature, controlled by the rival United Russia party.

Matviyenko, who had served as St. Petersburg governor since 2003, steadily lost popularity with local residents in recent years, and her reshuffle is seen by observers as a Kremlin attempt to strengthen its position in the city ahead of State Duma elections in December.

Speculation had swirled about her likely successor, although most observers agreed that the job would go to another of Putin’s cadre of old St. Petersburg associates whom he worked with in the city government in the 1990s. Among the favorites were Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak — but never Poltavchenko.

Poltavchenko, born in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, grew up in Leningrad, where he met Putin through the KGB. Poltavchenko headed the city’s tax police from 1993 to 1999, when he was appointed the Kremlin’s envoy to the Leningrad region; in 2000, he was promoted to envoy of the Central Federal District.

Poltavchenko has yet to be named full-time governor, but Nikolai Petrov, a regions analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the appointment is all but guaranteed.

“He was the longest-serving Kremlin envoy, and his promotion had been expected for a long time,” Petrov said by telephone.

Expectations about Poltavchenko, whose involvement in public politics remains limited, were still hesitant Tuesday, but the leader of the city branch of the liberal Yabloko party, Maxim Reznik, welcomed him simply for not being a member of Matviyenko’s team.

“It’s a positive move,” Reznik said, Interfax reported. But he criticized the fact that residents of St. Petersburg, the country’s second-biggest city with a population of 4.8 million, will be given no say in who will govern them

Russia: Cruising on the Volga - Samara to Astrakhan

Russia: Cruising on the Volga - Samara to Astrakhan

An eight day, seven night cruise on the River Volga from Samara to Astrakhan returning to Samara. On the way, stopping at Saratov and Volgograd.

Cruising on the Volga - Samara to Astrakhan

Holidays in Russia