New powers for Russian governors
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law which adds new powers to the Russian governors. The law might prepare the ground for the rule of Dmitrii Medvedev.
According to the law, the governors will from now on be entitled to execute federal officials’ duties. According to newspaper Kommersant, the amendment will raise to influence of the regional leaders.
The enhanced powers might also help strengthen the power of new President Dmitrii Medvedev, who is believed to be far more dependent of the support from the governors than Vladimir Putin
However, at the same time, the legislative change will also put the governors more directly under the power of both the president and the government.
Deputy head of the Russian Institute of Social Systems, Mr. Dmitrii Badovskii, says the new position of the governors will reflect the dual power of President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. The analyst also says that the new regional powers might be intended to prepare the ground for the creation of bigger regional entities, the so called “macroeconomic zones”, a proposal recently presented by Minister of Regional Development Dmitrii Kozak
Read also:
Russia might get new super-regions BarentsObserver, 6 February 2008
Regional governors - the power basis of President Medvedev BarentsObserver, 28 March 2008
