Byelorussia already opened the entrance door for the former Governor of Altai Region Alexander Surikov (on photo).
Photo: Sergey Ponomarev
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New Governor Is Sent to Byelorussia
// Alexander Surikov will go to Minsk instead of Dmitry Ayatskov
As Kommersant found out, the Kremlin finally decided and approved with the President of Byelorussia Alexander Lukashenko the candidacy of the new Russian Ambassador in Minsk. It will be former Governor of Altai Region, and currently the aide of the Special Presidential Envoy in Siberian Federal District Alexander Surikov.
The position of Russian Ambassador in Byelorussia was staying vacant for last three months. Soon it will be filled again. According to Kommersant information, in the end of the last week Kremlin connected through the confident ional channels with Alexander Lukashenko and told him about its choice: the Ambassador in Byelorussia would become former Governor of Altai Region Alexander Surikov. The Byelorussian President did not argue but asked about the fate of the former Governor of Saratov Region Dmitry Ayatskov, who never made it to Minsk. Lukashenko was told that there will be another job for Ayatskov (as Kommersant reported on October 19, he should be appointed as an aide of the Special Presidential Envoy in Privolzhsk Federal Region).
Let's remind that it was the attempt to appoint Ayatskov, which led to the situation when Russia ended up without an ambassador in Byelorussia. After already being officially appointed to be the Ambassador by the President Vladimir Putin, Ayatskov made a fatal mistake during the press conference on July 19 in Saratov. In his speech there he said that it is about the time for Lukashenko "to stop puffing his cheeks." This remark was immediately published by many media. Minsk was outraged. That is why Ayatskov never arrived to the Byelorussian capital despite the departure of the previous Russian Ambassador in there Alexander Blokhin. Moscow was trying to settle the scandal and to persuade Lukashenko to forget about the offensive words of Ayatskov. However, all these tries were unsuccessful.
The question of who was going to be the new Russian Ambassador in Byelorussia was open for a long time. While the Kremlin and Foreign Ministry were keeping tight lips, the media were guessing different candidacies. The journalists mentioned ex-Speaker of the State Duma Gennady Seleznev and ex-President of Russian Railroads Gennady Fadeev, who is working now as the aid of the Prime Minister. Finally, the decision was made: according to Kommersant information, the Kremlin chose Alexander Surikov. The necessity to speed up the appointment of the ambassador was also dictated by recently increased activity in the work over the Constitutional Act of Union State of Russia and Byelorussia. After the session of the joint commission that was held on October 20, it was announced that the project of the Constitutional Act would be submitted for the examination by the Supreme Council of Union State -- it includes presidents and prime ministers of Russia and Byelorussia -- already on November 15. (See Kommersant from October 21).
While appointing Surikov as the Ambassador, the Kremlin most likely was using the same criteria as for Ayatskov: it had to be a regional head who has many years of close contacts with Byelorussia and its leader. In this sense, Surikov has a pretty impressive resume -- no worse than former Saratov Governor. Already in August of 1998 he was heading a Russian-Byelorussian delegation that went on an official visit to Argentina. Only six months after, he allowed Minsk to open its representation office in the Altai Region. For the last several years Surikov many times went to Minsk, where he was always received by Lukashenko. During the time of his governorship the trade between Byelorussia and Altai Region went up by many times.
It is interesting that in Surikov's biography there is even "Saratov trace": he graduated from Saratov Polytechnic Institute with the specialty "Engineer-builder." From the other side, Surikov has much more controlled temper than Ayatskov and will not make a mistake that cost dearly to the former Saratov Governor. He already demonstrated that he can say right things to Byelorussian president, which are well received by Lukashenko. For instance, while commenting on the re-election of Lukashenko in 2001, the Altai Governor said then: "The republic and its president are on the right path."
There will be the necessary to complete all the formalities before Alexander Surikov can leave for Minsk. The Russian Foreign Ministry should start to process the paper work for the new ambassador. Then, he should go through the confirmation of the Committee for International Affairs of the Federal Assembly. After that he should be confirmed on this diplomatic position by the President Putin himself. There are no worries that in the mean time Surikov will say something similar to what Ayatskov said.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 26, 2005
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