Primorye deputies ask Putin to impose elements of direct presidential rule and dismiss Nazdratenko

Duma Deputies of Russia’s far-eastern Primorye Territory forwarded today a cable to President Vladimir Putin asking him to dismiss governor Yevgeni Nazdratenko and introduce in the region elements of the direct presidential rule. 15 out of 39 local Duma’s deputies signed the cable, says Yuri Rybalkin, chairman of the Duma’s economics and property committee. The deputies say they have evidence of gross violation by Yevgeni Nazdratenko of Primorye residents’ constitutional rights. “The Primorye governor has long kept himself aloof from managing the region, being preoccupied with intrigue and account settling with his opponents” the cable says. “Wrecking of a winter heating season has become one of the results of such a mismanagement,” the deputies argue. “Local media, obedient to the governor, has lately begun to heavily criticize Konstantin Pulikovski, the presidential plenipotentiary in the Far-Eastern Federal District, who called on Mr. Nazdratenko to stop beeing a politician and become an economic manager, RIA Novosti reports.