Russia's parliament confirmed Viktor Zubkov as prime minister on Friday after he pledged to press ahead with President Vladimir Putin's economic policies and help rebuild the defence industry.
Lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma voted by 381 to 47 to confirm Zubkov, an old Putin acquaintance whom the president plucked from obscurity as head of a money laundering watchdog, as successor to sacked prime minister Mikhail Fradkov.
Putin said on Friday that Zubkov could run for president next year, Russian news agencies reported.
Putin called Zubkov a high-level professional and said he was among at least five people who could hope to win the presidency, RIA-Novosti reported.
The remarks suggested that Putin wants Russians to consider Zubkov as a potential successor, but not necessarily the front-runner for his backing in the March presidential vote.
"We congratulate Viktor Alexeyevich (Zubkov) on this decision," Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said after the vote, to applause from lawmakers. The opposition Communist Party voted against his confirmation.
But the appointment of Zubkov, 65, deepened uncertainty around a bigger issue preoccupying Russians and foreign investors: who Putin will endorse to succeed him when he steps down as president next year?.
Most observers had expected the prime minister's job to go to a heavyweight figure as a stepping stone to the presidency.
Answering lawmakers' questions before the vote in the Duma, Zubkov said he would stick to the policies set out by Putin.
"I believe our priorities should be the strategic targets and programs of concrete actions set out in the president's state of the nation addresses in the past few years," he said.
Zubkov said keeping inflation down and preventing sharp rouble fluctuation would be a key priority.
He said he wanted "to help lift the defence industry complex" after years of under-funding, a commitment in line with Putin's drive to assert Russia on the world stage and boost military spending.
Zubkov also suggested Russia should squeeze more income out of its mineral wealth. "Russian oil and gas, forest, fish and other natural riches should bring more revenue", he said, without giving more details.
Answering one lawmaker, he said corruption pervaded Russian society and called for a special anti-corruption task-force to be set up.
Under the constitution, Zubkov now has one week to submit his proposals for a new government to Putin.
Meanwhile, Putin has sacked the commander of Russia's navy, taking to at least four the number of top brass dismissed since he appointed a new defence minister, the Moscow Times, an English-language daily media in Russia, reported on Friday.
Admiral Vladimir Masorin may have angered the Kremlin by accepting a US award in August without advance permission, the newspaper said.
The paper said Masorin had not followed the established practice of asking Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov before accepting the Legion of Merit at a ceremony in Washington.
Defence ministry and Kremlin spokesmen refused to comment on the reports, saying they had not yet seen a decree ordering Masorin's departure.
Source: China DailyAgencies
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