By Anatoly Medetsky Federal officials have suggested that the president may remove Primorye Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko from his post because of the heating crisis in his region. The presidential envoy to the Far East told a press conference on Monday that a special commission ordered by the president is completing their investigation into the causes of the lack of heating in Primorye. "Tough decisions will be made according to its results," the envoy, Konstantin Pulikovsky, said. The absence of central heating in nine Primorye towns and villages left 60,000 people freezing in their homes at the peak of the crisis which has lasted since the past October, emergency officials said. Sources told Interfax that the president may decide to remove Nazdratenko from his post if the commission finds him at fault for the crisis. The rumors of possible removal, which have sprung up quite a few times during Nazdratenko's career, were met calmly by his administration. The governor's spokesman, Alexei Kazakov, commented by chiding Pulikovsky, who he believed is behind the drive to give the boot to the governor. "Mr. Pulikovsky has adopted an unbefitting function to prompt the president on what to do," he said. "We don't see any threat that his initiative will be supported by the president." But the initiative is being considered by more than one influential official. The leader of the pro-Kremlin faction in the State Duma also speculated that President Vladimir Putin might dismiss Nazdratenko. Boris Gryzlov, the leader of the Unity faction, said last week that the president is entitled to do so according to the package of laws that the State Duma endorsed this past summer. The laws sponsored by Putin allow him to sack governors who fail to properly fulfil their duties. Gryzlov said such a case is evident because "there are mass disorders and a failure to provide vital functions in the region." At the Monday press conference in Moscow, Pulikovsky continued to attack Nazdratenko for his alleged incompetence. The Primorye governor "needs to roll up his sleeves and work and I'm frankly sorry for him because he doesn't understand that," he said. Nazdratenko "is feverishly searching for whom he failed to please - the president, the administration, Pulikovsky," the presidential envoy said. "But the truth is, he has failed to please the voters, the people, the time in which we are living." © copyright 2000 the Vladivostok News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any form. [Back to News page]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us]