Kommersant
A Just Russia faces choice of potential presidents
A Just Russia is the only party that continues to keep voters guessing about who its presidential candidate will be. The party will meet on December 10 to make a decision.
A Just Russia chairman, Nikolai Levichev, has said several times that the party will nominate Sergei Mironov, head of A Just Russia party in parliament. Mironov, who earlier said he was ready to run, addressed his supporters on December 1 telling them that he viewed each vote for A Just Russia in the parliamentary election as “support for his presidential nomination.”
In 2008, A just Russia joined United Russia, the Agrarian Party and the Civil Force in support of a single candidate, Dmitry Medvedev. In 2004, Mironov came in last with less than one percent of the vote.
According to Kommersant sources, the party could nominate another candidate, lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, at Saturday’s conference. “We are discussing various candidates including Mironov, Gudkov and Oksana Dmitriyeva,” a party source said. To select one of them, the party needs to hold a party rating vote “as is done in the civilized world,” said lawmaker Galina Khovanskaya who also said she had gone through the entire parliamentary campaign side by side with Gudkov and had as much respect for him as for Dmitriyeva and Mironov. “We are not a one man party like LDPR,” she added.
Gudkov has served in the third, fourth and fifth State Dumas and headed the People’s Party which was organized for the 2003 elections. Although it has not had much success, 21 members were elected from single seat constituencies only to join United Russia’s parliamentary group. In fact the People’s Party later merged with United Russia.
“It is a great honor to be even discussed as a potential presidential candidate,” Gudkov told Kommersant, adding that he was determined to live up to party members’ expectations.
Dmitriyeva said it would be more logical for the party leader to run, but that it is up to the party to decide. She said she would run if supported by the party leader but was not planning to compete with him.
Levichev agreed that party members are free to nominate other candidates. “I have already announced my candidate, but as the party chairman, it is my job now to call a conference and ensure a democratic nomination procedure,” he said.
The other parties elected to the lower house have made their decisions. United Russia nominated Vladimir Putin at a conference on November 27 in the hope that he would sweep the first round. The Communists will nominate Gennady Zyuganov on December 15 as a single opposition candidate. LDPR will nominate its leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, on December 13.
A Just Russia is the only party that continues to keep voters guessing about who its presidential candidate will be. The party will meet on December 10 to make a decision.
A Just Russia chairman, Nikolai Levichev, has said several times that the party will nominate Sergei Mironov, head of A Just Russia party in parliament. Mironov, who earlier said he was ready to run, addressed his supporters on December 1 telling them that he viewed each vote for A Just Russia in the parliamentary election as “support for his presidential nomination.”
In 2008, A just Russia joined United Russia, the Agrarian Party and the Civil Force in support of a single candidate, Dmitry Medvedev. In 2004, Mironov came in last with less than one percent of the vote.
According to Kommersant sources, the party could nominate another candidate, lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, at Saturday’s conference. “We are discussing various candidates including Mironov, Gudkov and Oksana Dmitriyeva,” a party source said. To select one of them, the party needs to hold a party rating vote “as is done in the civilized world,” said lawmaker Galina Khovanskaya who also said she had gone through the entire parliamentary campaign side by side with Gudkov and had as much respect for him as for Dmitriyeva and Mironov. “We are not a one man party like LDPR,” she added.
Gudkov has served in the third, fourth and fifth State Dumas and headed the People’s Party which was organized for the 2003 elections. Although it has not had much success, 21 members were elected from single seat constituencies only to join United Russia’s parliamentary group. In fact the People’s Party later merged with United Russia.
“It is a great honor to be even discussed as a potential presidential candidate,” Gudkov told Kommersant, adding that he was determined to live up to party members’ expectations.
Dmitriyeva said it would be more logical for the party leader to run, but that it is up to the party to decide. She said she would run if supported by the party leader but was not planning to compete with him.
Levichev agreed that party members are free to nominate other candidates. “I have already announced my candidate, but as the party chairman, it is my job now to call a conference and ensure a democratic nomination procedure,” he said.
The other parties elected to the lower house have made their decisions. United Russia nominated Vladimir Putin at a conference on November 27 in the hope that he would sweep the first round. The Communists will nominate Gennady Zyuganov on December 15 as a single opposition candidate. LDPR will nominate its leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, on December 13.
Vedomosti
Russia opens its skies
The Russian Government may allow foreign airlines to originate and terminate flights inside the country. Acting at the request of the Continental Hockey League (KHL), the Ministry of Transport is pursuing operational permits for Holidays Czech Airlines of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Air Baltic.
The government may allow Holidays Czech Airlines, a charter subsidiary of Czech Airlines, and Air Baltic to carry KHL teams on domestic routes at the request of the KHL, says a government executive order drafted by the Ministry of Transport. On December 1, the executive order was submitted to the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) for coordination. In his cover letter, Vladimir Tasun, a Civil Aviation Department director, asks Rosaviatsia Chief, Alexander Neradko, to coordinate the executive order “as soon as possible.” Tasun adds that, if adopted, the document will allow both airlines to operate inside Russia for 12 months.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport noted that the issue had been raised by the KHL and that it was currently being reviewed. Rosaviatsia and KHL declined to comment on the issue.
Holidays Czech Airlines and Air Baltic already work with KHL teams. The former is the official carrier of Slovakia’s Hockey Club Lev (Lion), and the latter carries Latvia’s Dinamo Riga. The Russian Government has already assured Air Baltic that it will be allowed to operate inside Russia, and that it can carry Russian teams, a corporate spokesperson noted. A spokesperson for Czech Airlines declined to comment on the issue.
The KHL started looking for an official carrier after a Yak-Service airliner crashed in September of this year killing most of Yaroslavl’s Lokomotiv Hockey Club. Each hockey team now chooses its own airline. After the tragedy, the KHL decided to choose one airline to fly teams to its scheduled matches, KHL President Alexander Medvedev told the Sovetsky Sport newspaper.
Aeroflot had stepped up to become the KHL’s official carrier, however a KHL manager doubts the league will be able to rely solely on Aeroflot. “We are looking at all the proposals in terms of airline potential, service quality and cost. Foreign airlines are being considered in the discussion,” he said.
An Aeroflot spokesperson declined to comment on the KHL initiative and called it unprecedented. “Airline cabotage isn’t used in civilized countries with well-developed aviation sectors. This is only allowed in Third World countries,” he said indignantly.
A top manager of another major airline said the KHL probably wanted to choose foreign airlines because they charge less. But this won’t help Aeroflot and other Russian airlines, he warns.
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