Putin backs moving Parliament to St Petersburg

Putin backs moving Parliament to St Petersburg
DADAN UPADHYAY

MOSCOW, APRIL 29: Gennady Seleznev, Speaker of the State Duma, Lower House of Parliament, has said that President-elect Vladimir Putin has shown ``interest'' in his proposal to move the Federal Assembly from Moscow to St Petersburg.

On Saturday, Seleznev told mediapersons in St Petersburg that he would raise the question of shifting the Federal Assembly, the two-chamber Russian parliament, to St Petersburg in the Duma, after the May holidays.

He said that he would submit the proposal to the Duma for discussion and a vote on it. ``It's quite possible that this will happen before the end of session closing on June 16.''

Seleznev added that an international tender would be held for the construction of the parliamentary centre and buildings would be ready in three years.

Of late, Putin, who hails from St Petersburg, has been inviting foreign dignitaries for meeting in St Petersburg, called Russia's cultural capital.

On Saturday, he held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yeshiro Mori in St Petersburg. Earlier, before the presidential election in March, he met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair there.