If St. Petersburg Gov. Valentina Mativiyenko agrees to head the Federation Council or Senate, Russia’s first ever female governor, who prior to moving to St. Petersburg as the city head, was a deputy prime minister, could become the first female speaker of the Senate, and consequently, the third highest political figure in the country’s power hierarchy.
The idea of nominating Matviyenko to the post, which became vacant after the controversial sacking of former Speaker Sergei Mironov, was announced at a meeting of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with Gubernatorial Corps by Bashkortostan Gov. Rustem Khamitov, noting that the St. Petersburg governor’s wide experience more than qualifies her to lead the upper chamber.
Supporting Matviyenko’s candidacy, Medvedev said that the appointment of woman to one of the central government posts will only contribute to rapid development and modernization of Russia. "I like this idea because Matviyenko is a person with great experience, an absolutely successful governor, who had previously worked in several senior positions in the Russian government."
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