A woman takes Russia’s number three post
Russia: Russia’s upper house on Wednesday elected the
ex-governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko as its speaker,
giving a woman for the first time one of the top state posts in the
country. atviyenko, who was in charge of Russia’s second city from 2003
until earlier this year, was overwhelmingly approved as Federation
Council speaker in a ceremonial vote with 140 votes in favour, one
abstention and none against.
Known for her impeccably coiffured hair and glamorous power dressing,
Matviyenko, 62, is taking on what according to the constitution is
Russia’s most powerful post after that of president and prime minister.
Although Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s cabinet contains several
women, no woman has held one of Russia’s top three posts in modern
Russian history. Going further back, only Catherine the Great could
claim to have held greater powers.
However cynics point out that the Federation Council acts as no more
than a rubber-stamp and the theoretical powers of its speaker are easily
trumped by any number of shadowy behind-the-scenes officials and
security service members. The new speaker also gave a swift indication
she had no intention of worrying the Kremlin.
“I’m not in favour of revolutions. I don’t believe in populism. I’m
not a supporter of radical decisions. Practice has shown that usually
these are harmful,” she said. Indeed, Matviyenko seemed initially
reluctant to quit her Saint Petersburg post and some media said the new
job was just a consolation prize as the ruling party United Russia no
longer trusted her to win votes in the city. The Federation Council post
became vacant after its former incumbent Sergei Mironov was ousted
apparently for being critical of the Kremlin, a surreal charge given
that he heads what is nominally an opposition party.
Starting under the rule of late Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev,
Matviyenko has enjoyed a meteoric career which, according to the daily
Vedomosti, has seen her “in demand under any political framework”.
Under Brezhnev she was a secretary in the Komsomol youth organisation,
under Konstantin Chernenko she became a party secretary and then during
the rule of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev a deputy, the paper
noted. She served as a deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin in the
1990s and as governor of Saint Petersburg in the presidency of Vladimir
Putin, himself a native of the city.
Moscow, Thursday, AFP |