Communists, Yabloko urge Russian government to go

The government of Mikhail Kasyanov may be dismissed. This time the threat is coming from the Communists. However, the Communists are not so unanimous nowadays as they used to. According to Gennadi Zyuganov, 90 deputies’ signatures will be collected within the next few days, which are necessary for initiating the procedure of a no-confidence vote in the government. Zyuganov has already announced more than once that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must form a competent and strong government.” In the opinion of the Communist Party leader, “over the past year the government has not made any moves to change the social and economic course.” “Even an enormous budget surplus due to favourable oil prices did not help the government correct its economic policy and avoid a budget sequestration,” stated Mr. Zyuganov. But this initiative is fraught with a split among the Communists. The State Duma Speaker Gennadi Seleznyov announced that he will not put his signature on the demand for the government’s dismissal. At the same time, the speaker noted that any faction of the State Duma has the right to start the dismissal procedure and the Communist Party of the Russian federation has used this right. The Communists have been joined by liberal Yabloko Party. The Duma’s Yabloko faction has issued a statement saying that Yabloko does not support the Kasyanov government and considers the question of its resignation to be “justified.”