MOSCOW – Russia’s parliament confirmed Viktor Zubkov as prime minister on Friday, cementing the instant rise to Kremlin stature of a quiet confidant of President Vladimir Putin even as Putin added fresh uncertainty to the question of who might succeed him.
Speaking at an annual meeting of visiting Russia experts, Putin said there were now at least five viable presidential candidates for the election next spring.
Three are known: Zubkov and two first deputy prime ministers – Sergei Ivanov and Dmitri Medvedev. Putin declined to share the other two names. “Currently, a minimum of five people can be named who stand a real chance of running for president and getting elected,” Putin said. “There is a real choice.”
The surprise ascension of Zubkov, who previously led a small federal agency that investigates financial crimes, had already raised questions about the field. Putin’s assertion of two more candidates appeared to confuse the succession question further, leaving Kremlin watchers speculating anew about his plans.
The group of Russia experts Putin addressed, known as the Valdai Discussion Group, gathered this year at a presidential compound on a bluff overlooking the Black Sea.
Putin’s remarks, and the immediate reaction in the Russian news media to the idea of five serious contenders for the presidency, underscored both Putin’s supremacy in domestic Russian affairs and the nature of the competition in Russian elections.
While by law any qualified candidate can seek public support to run for office, political analysts and the Kremlin’s spokesmen alike have said that any vote next year will almost certainly depend on an electorate of one: Putin.
One senior Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with diplomatic protocol, said that given the workings of Russian politics, Putin’s assertion that there are five solid presidential candidate was perhaps best viewed as misleading. “This is designed to make it look like there will be an election,” the diplomat said. “But in the end, he is going to pick.”
In a sign that further shake-ups could be likely, Putin also expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the government that had been led until now by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.
He said that members of the government had not been working as diligently as he expected, and that some of the ministers had begun to plan their lives after Putin’s expected departure next year. But he added that Fradkov made his own decision to offer his resignation on Wednesday.
“I did not push the prime minister to do this,” Putin said. “The prime minister clearly saw the mood of his collective and came to me with the proposal. I had the same sense.”
As Putin addressed the meeting, Zubkov began work in the government, official Russian news agencies reported. At least a modest shake-up of ministers was expected. Putin’s remarks about his dissatisfaction appeared to make a round of firings imminent.
Zubkov, who will now manage the government in the months leading to the parliamentary elections in December, is a former collective farm manager who has been a confidant of Putin’s since at least the early 1990s when he served as Putin’s deputy in a mayoral department in St. Petersburg.
In recent years he has led a federal agency that investigates money laundering and other crimes. Putin praised him, calling him “highly professional, decent, balanced and wise.”
“There is no corruption around him,” he said.
The Western diplomat said Zubkov had a good reputation for fighting international money laundering.
Several analysts have suggested that Zubkov might be a caretaker figure who could become president and remain loyal to Putin, allowing Putin to return to office after stepping down next year.
Putin is barred by the constitution from serving a third consecutive term, but would be eligible to run again in 2012, or sooner, if the next president serves an abbreviated term.
