Citizens need project dubbed "Russia" - Prokhorov
MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Russian citizens need new projects, the central one being a project to mold the country's future, said Right Cause party leader Mikhail Prokhorov.
"I think the public needs new projects now. The project dubbed 'Russia' to mold the country's future, must become the central one. The country has lacked a national project for decades," Prokhorov said in an interview, published by the daily Kommersant on Tuesday.
"Our goal is to change the environment, not merely to occupy our place in the Duma," Prokhorov said, adding that he is the first of Russia's big businessmen to have joined public politics.
"Khodorkovsky did not make it and failed to become a public and professional politician. He remained Yukos's general director and an influential figure," he said.
"At this level, all major businessmen become aware of how Russia is organized, but it is impossible to influence processes or change anything being only a businessman," Prokhorov said.
He said he had requested "exclusive powers from other party members because they have no time for talk." "If prominent people emerge I don't have to lose time convincing anyone. I have powers to promote these people to posts in the regions," he said.
"If individual people working in various government agencies help promote the party ideas, share them and are ready to help, they must be used, he said, noting that "if they are not promotive, their opinions should be disregarded."
The Right Cause party would grow when joined by members of other parties, "if these people comply with our positions and our convictions one way or another. There are such people in each party. Some joined parties to make a career, not because they had convictions," he said.
Prokhorov said he disagrees with the current pattern of running the country.
"All issues are tacked in the center. The country cannot develop this way. If the governors are appointed, they must be vested with federal functions," said Prokhorov.