Moscow, Mar 02: An old India hand and Moscow's representative to the European Union Mikhail Fradkov was today nominated as Russia's prime minister by President Vladimir Putin, less than a month before the Presidential election.
Putin, who surprised the nation by dismissing Mikhail Kasyanov from the post of the prime minister six days ago, named 54-year-old Fradkov, a former tax police chief, as the next prime minister during a meeting with his supporters from the lower house of Parliament, Duma.
In early 1980s Fradkov had worked as Soviet Trade Representative in New Delhi and since then looked after trade and economic ties with India within the framework of Inter-governmental Joint Commission in the Andropov, Gorbachev and Yeltsin governments till 1997.
By appointing Fradkov, a lightweight politician, Putin has signalled that he wants to run the government like an efficient corporate office, and does not need any conflict of views on economic policies.
Fradkov's appointment is also a good signal for Indo-Russian economic interaction and trade, which has sunk to the miserable level of $1.4 billion.
Bureau Report
