United Russia faction submits cabinet nominees to Medvedev - newspaper
MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - United Russia's parliamentary faction submitted nominees for the next cabinet to the Kremlin administration ahead of the party activists' meeting with their future leader, incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev, held on Friday, the newspaper Vedomosti writes on Saturday.
"Among the nominees are distinguished party members, whose status lowered when the new Duma was being formed," the newspaper writes, citing party sources.
The list includes the leaders of inner faction groups Otari Asrhba, the ex-chairman of the Regulations Committee; Yevgeny Fyodorov, the chairman of the Budget Committee and ex-head of the Economic Policy Committee; Yury Vorobyov, an ex-chairman of the Budget Committee; Dmitry Savelyev, Transneft ex-president, and deputies of the previous Duma Mikhail Grishankov, who is the current Gazprombank vice president, and Alexander Kogan, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina's aide.
The list also includes the long-time chairman of the Duma Committee for Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov, who was in charge of Medvedev's reception offices during the 2008 presidential election campaign, the sources said.
Two nominations could be confirmed soon: Asrhba is likely to leave the Duma and join the military-industrial complex, while Vorobyov's career is likely to continue in the Finance Ministry.
Grishankov, an ex-vice chairman of the Security Committee, could continue in this law enforcement service, while Kogan, an ex-vice chairman of the Budget Committee, could be offered a job at the Finance Ministry.
There are new people on the list, the sources said. Among them are the party's youth policy chief Denis Kravchenko and lawmaker Nadezhda Shkolkina.
Another entry on the list is Olga Batalina, deputy presidential chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin's associate. "She got the post of vice-chair of the Local Self-Government Committee in the Duma and is in charge of processing citizens' letters in the party," Vedomosti said.