Governor Marina Kovtun last week officially reappointed Andrei Guriev as senator, the region’s representative in the upper house of the Russian parliament, a press release from the regional government informs. With the reappointment, the owner of fertilizer giant Phosargo can continue another four years as the region’s representative in the Federation Council.
Guriev is believed to own more than 70 percent of Phosagro, the company which controls Apatit, the fertilizers producer based in the Kola Peninsula. Guriev started his career in Menatep, the bank owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev, and is according to Forbes now ranked as Russia’s 29th richest person with a fortune estimated to $3.5 billion. He has represented Murmansk in the Federation Council since 2001.
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However, Guriev is not the only rich and powerful man representing Murmansk Oblast in the Russian capital. The region’s second representative in the Federation Council is Vladimir Chub, the man who for 18 years was governor of Rostov Oblast, the south Russian region. Chub was appointed senator in December 2011 and replaced Vyacheslav Popov, the former head commander of the Northern Fleet.
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Vladimir Chub might not be rich like Andrei Guriev, but he has a number of powerful political allies, which helped him secure the post in the Federation Council.
In the State Duma, the second chamber of the parliament, Murmansk is represented by Valery Yazev, a man closely associated with the Russian gas industry. Yazev has been a member of the State Duma since 1997 and is today its Deputy Speaker. He also heads the Russian Gas Society, a non-commercial partnership initiated by Gazprom to promote the interest of the gas industry.
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None of the three men have any background from Murmansk Oblast.
