The speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said on Monday that the idea of presidential envoys to the federal districts has outlived its purpose.
The speaker’s statement came at a time when the Russian authorities are seeking to decentralize power amid street protests against government policies.
“Maybe, considering the current course toward [power] de-centralization, it would be a good idea to open representations of the Regional Development Ministry,” Matviyenko told a session of the State Council, the president’s advisory body made up of regional leaders.
She said regional ministers for each territory could be a good alternative.
“The current system is certainly inefficient,” she said.
Presidential plenipotentiary envoys were introduced in late 2004 by then-President Vladimir Putin who set himself the goal of tightening control over the regions following the deadly terrorist siege of a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, that left 334 dead, including 186 children.
