Posts Tagged ‘Boris Gryzlov’
I Missed This
The saga of Okhta Centre continues…
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said Friday that the Okhta-Center should be built in St. Petersburg, but that a better location should be chosen, Itar-Tass reported.
The controversial 400-meter high skyscraper should be constructed on Vasilyevsky Island, where it could function as a lighthouse, or on the territory of the Rzhevsky range outside the city, Gryzlov told reporters at a United Russia forum in St. Petersburg.
I am Wearing Black
today because I assume you are in mourning.”
Note the use of the pronoun “you”. Not “we are in mourning”. But “you are in mourning”.
When I first saw the video, it appeared as though Medvedev was wearing a red shirt, and I wondered at the significance of that. But then I looked for pictures, and he is wearing all black.
I am also having difficulty identifying everyone at the table here. But I found a list of names, and their titles in Russian. Those in attendance were:
Boris Gryzlov — Duma Chairman;
Sergei Mironov — Federal Chamber Chairman;
Vladimir Zhirinovsky — Liberal Democratic Party Chairman;
Gennady Zyuganov — Communist Party Chairman;
Igor Lebedev — Faction Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in the State Duma (also happens to be the son of Vladimir Zhirinovsky);
Nikolai Levichev — A Just Rusia Party Chairman (next to Gryzlov in the photo);
Vyacheslav Volodin — Deputy Speaker of the State Duma;
Ivan Melnikov — vice-chairman of the Communist Party;
Vladislav Surkov — First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
In Other News
that may or may not be related to the clan wars, the Head of the National Banking Council was fired yesterday. Of course, the article never used the word “fired” because people are not fired in Putinania. They are “removed” or “transferred” (or they die, which may be the same as “removed”, but I am not sure).
According to the article in The Moscow Times, Anatoly Aksakov was “removed” because he “…drew widespread criticism for suggesting that the ruble should be devalued.”
Boris Gryzlov (whom I have nicknamed “Boris the Boring” because of his droning voice) apparently led this attack. However, I doubt that is the full story. Boris would never actually do anything without prior approval from someone higher.
The other thing I find interesting about this story is that there were three abstentions. You will note, of course, that not one person on the 11 person committee voted against removal. They may have thought that this attack was unprovoked, and silly, but not one of them actually stood up and said so. Instead 3 people (we are not even allowed to know who) abstained. Abstaining is, of course, the wimpy way of saying “no”. If you are going to say “no”, you should really go all out. On the other hand, the individuals representing the Government and Presidential Administration are all at risk of losing their jobs should they step out of line, so you can hardly blame them. It would just be nice to see Alexei Kudrin (or anyone really) take a stand for once.
Putinania 