- News>
- World
Siberian region shuns election campaign
Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Mar 03: Four time zones east of Moscow, this Siberian city has a lot on its mind. This month`s Russian presidential election is not among them.
Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Mar 03: Four time zones east of Moscow, this Siberian city has a lot on its mind. This month's Russian presidential election is not among them.
There are no campaign posters in the freezing streets of Krasnoyarsk and the local media rarely bothers to mention the March 14 poll when President Vladimir Putin is certain to win a second term.
Even last week's news that Putin had sacked his government failed to shake the apathy that has marked this election campaign across much of Russia. ''What would you say about sacking of a governor of the Chinese province Heilongjiang?'' said Denis Pribytko, a school teacher in the capital of this vast resource-rich province which stretches north into the Arctic circle and south almost to Mongolia and about 3,100 km east of Moscow.
''It is situated as far from us as Moscow and has roughly same relevance to our affairs”. On the face of it, life has improved for the region's population of three million since Putin came to power four years ago. After the chaotic rule of Russia's first post-soviet leader Boris Yeltsin, the Putin Kremlin has brought about some degree of prosperity and stability.
And like most of the rest of russia, putin's approval rating in the Krasnoyarsk region, is some 80 per cent. In fact, the people of Krasnoyarsk have particular reason to be pleased with Putin for the crusade he waged against business magnates, popularly called Oligarchs, who fought each other to grab the region's mineral riches during the Yeltsin years.
Bureau Report
Even last week's news that Putin had sacked his government failed to shake the apathy that has marked this election campaign across much of Russia. ''What would you say about sacking of a governor of the Chinese province Heilongjiang?'' said Denis Pribytko, a school teacher in the capital of this vast resource-rich province which stretches north into the Arctic circle and south almost to Mongolia and about 3,100 km east of Moscow.
''It is situated as far from us as Moscow and has roughly same relevance to our affairs”. On the face of it, life has improved for the region's population of three million since Putin came to power four years ago. After the chaotic rule of Russia's first post-soviet leader Boris Yeltsin, the Putin Kremlin has brought about some degree of prosperity and stability.
And like most of the rest of russia, putin's approval rating in the Krasnoyarsk region, is some 80 per cent. In fact, the people of Krasnoyarsk have particular reason to be pleased with Putin for the crusade he waged against business magnates, popularly called Oligarchs, who fought each other to grab the region's mineral riches during the Yeltsin years.
Bureau Report