Acting Governor of Russia's Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev is sorting out the urgent issues related to the territory's economic performance, which are his top priority at the moment, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2020) Acting Governor of Russia's Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev is sorting out the urgent issues related to the territory's economic performance, which are his top priority at the moment, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
On Monday, Degtyarev accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to serve as the acting governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, replacing arrested former governor Sergey Furgal, dismissed from the post due to a loss of confidence in his work.
"No one is refusing to talk to the citizenry. Degtyarev has been working in the region for just a few days. There are obviously many pressing matters that demand an immediate solution to, basically, secure the functioning of the region's economy for the benefit of the region's residents and citizens. This is what the acting governor is preoccupied with as his high priority," Peskov told journalists when asked about the need to hear the locals out about their complaints to the authorities.
While replying to the question about residents' calls for Moscow to stay out of the regional business, Peskov described it as "a fashionable trend among the members of the quasi-opposition," who are "prone to making a ruckus." He also confirmed that the Kremlin had not been aware of Furgal's intention to leave office ahead of his arrest.
Furgal, a 50-year-old businessman-turned-politician from the opposition Liberal-Democratic Party (LDPR), was detained on July 9 for an alleged role in a string of killings in the 2000s. He is in custody in a Moscow prison and denies the charges. Rallies in support of Furgal, who is popular with the locals, have been held in Khabarovsk Territory since July 11.
On Wednesday, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky claimed that Furgal had planned to resign from his office before the arrest.
