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WORLD / Europe
Russia PM nominee a low-key technocrat
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-13 02:51
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin stuck to his habit of choosing
virtually unknown technocrats as prime minister on Wednesday by
nominating Viktor Zubkov.
With his choice of the 65-year-old, who is head of the Federal Financial
Monitoring Service, Putin confounded expectations the job would go to a
heavyweight candidate who would use it as a stepping stone to becoming
president in 2008.
Instead, Putin kept everyone guessing about whom he wanted to be his
successor by giving the job to a man regarded by most analysts as a
transitional figure.
In common with many politicians who have risen to the top of Russian
officialdom under Putin, Zubkov worked alongside the future president in
St Petersburg's City Hall in the 1990s.
"He was a pretty colourless, grey person," said a former colleague of
Zubkov's when he was head of the tax inspectorate of Russia's second city.
"He was tongue-tied and was terribly frightened of public speaking," said
the former colleague, who did not want to be identified.
"He did not generate ideas. He was someone who carried out instructions."
Zubkov was nominated to replace Mikhail Fradkov, who stepped down after
more than three years as prime minister on Wednesday.
As head of the Financial Monitoring Service from 2001, Zubkov played a
major role in combating money-laundering -- a priority for Putin who
waged a campaign against "oligarchs" who made fortunes while flouting the
law.
The service was instrumental in getting Russia removed from the blacklist
drawn up by the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that
combats money-laundering.
ALMOST UNKNOWN
When Fradkov was nominated, he too was almost unknown and working as
Russia's envoy to the European Union in Brussels. Markets were reassured
Zubkov has some financial background.
"We see him (Zubkov) as a prime minister who will guarantee succession
but not as a future president. In terms of macro-economics, Zubkov is no
worse than Fradkov," said Yevgeny Nadorshin, analyst at Moscow's Trust
Bank.
Zubkov's daughter lives with Anatoly Serdyukov, another St Petersburg
native whom Putin earlier this year appointed as defence minister, his
former colleague said.
Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst, told Ekho Moskvy radio that
"Zubkov has always had significant informal influence on a number of
issues and the brightest idea to date adopted (by Putin) on his
suggestion was the appointment of his son-in-law Serdyukov as Russia's
Defence Minister this spring".
Zubkov was born on Sept 15, 1941, in the village of Arbat in the Urals
mountains. His first job was as a fitter in a factory.
He went on to qualify as an economist specialising in agriculture and
worked on state farms in the Leningrad region surrounding St Petersburg
for 18 years.
He joined the city administration in 1985, serving for a time in the
foreign economic department where Putin worked. From 1993 until 2001 he
was a senior official in the tax service, leaving to head the financial
monitoring service in 2001.
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