Xinhuanet Moscow, September 13th (Reporter Lu Jingli) Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation request of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Fradkov and his government in the Kremlin on the 12th, and the three-year and four-month ruling course of the current Russian government came to an end. At present, Putin has proposed to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) that Zubcov, director of the Russian Federal Financial Supervision Bureau, be the prime minister. Although the candidate for the new prime minister has yet to be decided after discussion by the State Duma, public opinion here generally believes that there is no suspense for Zubcov to become prime minister.
Analysts pointed out that this personnel change reflects that Russian leaders are preparing for parliamentary elections at the end of this year and presidential elections in March next year.
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On September 12th, Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov were talking at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. On the same day, Putin announced that he accepted the resignation request of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and his government in order to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Xinhua News Agency/AFP
Fradkov was commended.
Putin spoke highly of the work done by the current government when he met with Fradkov on 12th. He said: "In recent years, under your leadership, the Russian government has done a lot of work and achieved important positive results. The gross domestic product has maintained a good growth momentum, the inflation rate has decreased, people’s real income has increased, living standards have improved, and major social projects have been implemented. " In recognition of Fradkov’s contribution as Prime Minister, Putin signed an order to award him the first-class medal of "Meritorious Service to the Motherland".
Shevchenko, a famous Russian TV presenter, commented that the Fradkov government is the "most active and stable" government in Russia in the past 15 years. Critic Danilin said that the current government has performed its duties well and is the "most professional" government in these years.
Russian people also gave positive comments to the Fradkov government. A public opinion survey conducted by the Russian Social Public Opinion Research Center at the end of March shows that people generally believe that the government has made achievements in solving the population problem, implementing key projects in the social field, resolving economic and financial problems and improving people’s living standards.
What about dissolving the government?
Since the Fradkov government has done a good job, why did it propose to resign? The dialogue between Fradkov and Putin revealed the reason. Fradkov said, "There will be major political events in the country, and the State Duma and presidential elections will be held soon. I hope that the president will have full freedom in solving personnel and other issues" and there are no restrictions in arranging "the power framework". Putin, on the other hand, said that it is indeed necessary to consider how to arrange government agencies so that they can prepare for the country’s entry into the "period after parliamentary elections and presidential elections in March 2008."
Putin further explained during his visit to Belgrod State on the 13th that the measures to dissolve the government were taken to make people concentrate on performing their duties better, so that the Russian regime and management system could play an uninterrupted role during and after the general election. From the perspective of reforming the management system, it is best to take necessary measures to solve some personnel problems now, avoid the interruption of work caused by a large number of personnel changes, and clarify the direction of the construction and development of state institutions after the election.
The Russian authority consists of the president, the government and the parliament. Both the parliament and the president are facing re-election, and there will be a period of adaptation for the whole country after the re-election. During this period, it is very important for government agencies to function step by step, and Putin began to solve the problem of forming a new government three months before the general election in order to let the new government spend more than two months in the running-in period to ensure the smooth transfer of state power. Therefore, in the words of Fradkov, it is "timely" and "reasonable" to resign at this time.
Zubcov, a dark horse in politics
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This is the information photo of Victor Zubcov taken on March 18th, 2004. Xinhua news agency
When Putin proposed to the State Duma that Zubcov should take over as the prime minister of the new government, the critics all shouted "surprise" with one voice.
Zubcov was born in Sverdlovsk region in September 1941. When Putin was the chairman of the Foreign Economic Liaison Committee in St. Petersburg, Zubcov was the vice chairman. Later, he served as the first deputy minister of the Russian Ministry of Finance and is now the director of the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau.
In November 2001, Zubcov established a financial supervision institution in Russia from scratch. Over the past few years, financial supervision institutions have made outstanding achievements, the anti-money laundering struggle has progressed smoothly in legislation and organization, and Russia’s financial and investment reputation has been greatly improved.
In an interview with reporters after being nominated as Prime Minister, Zubcov said that corruption is one of the most important problems in Russia today and the main obstacle to improving the efficiency of the state management system. As a result, analysts speculate that Putin used Zubcov to solve the problem of clean government in state institutions. Anti-corruption will be one of the priorities of the new Russian government, and it will also be one of the key tasks before and after the Russian parliament and presidential election.
Editor: Li Xingchi