Russian State Duma Confirms Kasyanov as New PremierThe Russian State Duma on Wednesday confirmed Mikhail Kasyanov as the country's new prime minister. The 42-year-old economist expert cleared the lower house of parliament by a vote of 325-55 with 15 abstentions.In his address to the Duma deputies, Kasyanov promised to exercise "effective control" over the monopolies of natural resources to ease tax burdens, simplify taxation system and equip the armed forces with modern hardware. He also called for the creation of an efficient civil service system and the reorganization of the banking sector. Kasyanov, who was finance minister in the previous cabinet, is a familiar face in the West as the government's top debt negotiator. The Russian media said that Kasyanov would make "an obedient and industrious prime minister without any evident political ambitions." As first deputy prime minister since January, he has been in charge of day-to-day running of the government and President Vladimir Putin is likely to keep him in that role--primarily as a manager rather than a policy-maker. Kasyanov has spent 10 years in the economics and finance ministries, but has little experience in other spheres of politics. Born on December 8, 1957, Kasyanov is a fluent English-speaker. He graduated from Moscow's Automobile and Road Institute, and later worked at Gosplan, the Soviet Union's powerful economic planning agency. With Kasyanov confirmed, people's attention will now shift to the formation of the new cabinet. Russian media speculated that Putin would prefer stability and keep many of the ministers. The Interfax news agency, quoting government sources, said Putin met with Kasyanov later Wednesday and possibly decided on the first cabinet appointments. |
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