The Parliament of Kalmykia was the last to appoint a senator following the results of regional elections

The People’s Khural of Kalmykia appointed Bayir Puteev as a new senator. His candidacy was proposed by the chairman of the regional parliament, Artem Mikhailov, and the deputies approved the appointment by a majority vote. Since 2022, Puteev has held leadership positions in the republican branch of United Russia and is a member of the presidium of the regional political council. In the chamber, he will replace Alexei Mayorov, who has represented the khural there since 2011. The Parliament of Kalmykia became the last legislative assembly to delegate its representative to the Federation Council following the results of the regional elections held on September 10.

On a single voting day, legislative assemblies of 20 constituent entities of the Federation, including new regions, were elected. Based on the election results, regional parliaments, in accordance with the law “On the procedure for forming the Federation Council,” delegate one representative to the chamber. The legislative assemblies of the 16 “old” regions appointed a total of seven new senators. In addition to Puteev, the new members of the Federation Council are:

• Oleg Golov (state assembly of Bashkiria, replaced Irek Yalalov),

• Sakhamin Afanasyev (State Assembly of Yakutia, replaced Alexander Akimov),

• Ivan Novikov (Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly of Deputies, replaced Viktor Novozhilov),

• Vladimir Kiselev (legislative assembly of the Vladimir region, replaced Olga Khokhlova),

• Artem Malashchenkov (Smolensk Regional Duma, replaced Irina Kozhanova),

• Alexander Lutovinov (meeting of deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, replaced Rimma Galushina).

Also formally, Valery Vasiliev became the new representative of the Ivanovo Regional Duma, replacing Alexander Gusakovsky. In fact, Vasiliev has been sitting in the Federation Council since 2011 – previously he represented the government of the Ivanovo region in the upper house of parliament. Governor Stanislav Voskresensky, after being re-elected for a second term on September 19, delegated the former head of the Federal Customs Service, Vladimir Bulavin.

On November 16, it will be a year since the Ryazan Regional Duma has no representative in the Federation Council after the voluntary resignation of Senator Igor Morozov. On September 13, the presidium of the regional political council of United Russia decided to nominate the former head of the Federal Tax Service for the region, Vyacheslav Morozov, who won the by-election, as a senator. However, this appointment never took place.

The Duma was supposed to consider the relevant issue on September 21, but at the last moment it was removed from the agenda by decision of the Duma Council “due to the fact that there are issues of a documentary and technical nature that require further work.” “Apparently, the magic of the surname,” the interlocutor in the regional parliament sneers.

According to the local publication Mediaryazan, deputy Vyacheslav Morozov found a job in the Rostec structure in Moscow to work with authorities. Vedomosti sent a request to the state corporation.

Political strategist Oleg Zakharov noted that this is the first case of such delay in the appointment of a senator. Political scientist Alexander Kynev agrees with him. According to him, “long pauses” existed during the chairmanship of the Federation Council of Sergei Mironov (2001–2011), when the upper house of parliament had the power not to confirm senators elected in the regions. The expert recalled that the chamber did not approve the powers of the Karelian politician Devletkhan Alikhanov for nine months. “This story was resolved when the right not to approve was actually taken away from the Federation Council, and senators in the regions today receive powers, in fact, automatically,” Kynev said.