President Vladimir Putin Dissolves Government Today: Ahead of US Elections

Russia‘s government was completely dismissed today by President Vladimir Putin, ahead of parliamentary and US presidential elections. The newly appointed prime minister goes by the name of Viktor Zubkov, it’s easy to say that Viktor Zubkov may be a little friend of Mr Putin.
Following months of guessing and speculation, Mr Putin said he had previously accepted the resignation of the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov.

It was later revealed that Mr Zubkov had been nominated as the new head of Russia’s government – ahead of parliamentary elections on December 2 and the all important presidential poll in March 2008.

‘We all have to think together how to build a structure of power so that it better corresponds to the pre-election period and prepares the country for the period after the presidential election in March,’ Mr Putin told Mr Fradkov on Russian television.

An interesting point to make is that most analysts believe that whoever takes up President Putin empty space next year is unlikely to have a more conciliatory approach to London or Washington.