Igor Morozov in the Federation Council may be replaced by the speaker of the Ryazan Regional Duma

The speaker of the regional parliament, Arkady Fomin, can become a senator from the Ryazan Regional Duma instead of Igor Morozov. This was told to Vedomosti by a source in the region and confirmed by an interlocutor close to the upper house of parliament. Also, one of the senators heard about the discussion of the candidacy of the speaker of the regional legislature for appointment to the Federation Council (SF), who called this appointment “extremely likely.”

It is Fomin’s candidacy that is being promoted by the recently elected governor of the Ryazan region, Pavel Malkov, these Vedomosti sources say. An interlocutor close to the upper house, as well as a source close to the regional administration, called the speaker of the Ryazan parliament “a strong figure.” The political scientist-regionalist Rostislav Turovsky agreed with them. “It should be a coordinated decision,” he told Vedomosti. – The governor may try to replace the speaker [заксобрания] in this way, but he does not have his own personnel in the region. So this can be called a rotation of the speaker after the next change of governor, and it seems logical to me.” Turovsky stressed that Malkov has been working in the region recently – he was appointed acting head on May 10. Fomin himself, the expert believes, is quite influential: he has been in power in the region for quite a long time – he has headed the regional Duma since 2010, “is well known to the elites”, and is the first deputy secretary of the regional branch of United Russia. He was also a State Duma deputy in the 5th convocation. Fomin did not answer calls from Vedomosti.