The republican parliament today approved Vyacheslav Gaizer as the region’s new leader. He replaces Vladimir Torlopov who has headed the republic the last eight years.

As BarentsObserver reported, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that Mr Torlopov would not be reappointed as governor. The regional leader’s term expired on 15 January. Medvedev instead proposed Vyacheslav Gaizer, the regional Minister of Finance, as new leader.

 

Vyacheslav Gaizer sworn in (Rkomi.ru)

Support from legislators

In an extraordinary session today, the republican State Council – the regional parliament – approved Gaizer as the new Komi leader. The 25 deputies unanimously supported the candidacy, a press release from the regional administration reads.

In his speech to the assembly, Mr. Gaizer highlighted that his governorship will be focused on a modernization of the region through hard work and new ideas. He thanked outgoing governor Torlopov for his eight-years work.

The outgoing governor

Vladimir Torlopov in his speech to the council called for full support for the new leader. He highlighted that the republic in his time as governor has developed positively, that the budget system had been fully reformed and that industry and business had got new work condictions. As BarentsObserver has reported, it likely that Torlopov had expected the President to prolong his work as governor with a new term.

Mr. Gaizer, born in 1966, is a native from the Komi Republic. He comes from the town of Inta, a coal mining centre north in the region. Gaizer is himself a Komi, the minority people which has about 30 percent of the regional population.

The Komi Republic is located on the western side of the Ural Mountains. It has about one million inhabitants. It is the easternmost federal subject in the Barents Region.

 

BarentsObserver.com