PM nominee selects his senior deputy

Mikhail Fradkov, who was nominated for Russian Prime Minister by President Vladimir Putin, has asked the United Russia faction in the lower house of Russian parliament to delegate Duma deputy speaker Alexander Zhukov to the new Cabinet. "I will ask the United Russia party to delegate Alexander Zhukov to the position of Senior Deputy Prime Minister," Fradkov declared after the consultations with the United Russia faction in the State Duma were finished.