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Three new governors elected in regional races in Russia

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December 26, 2000 

MOSCOW--(UNB/AP) - A general from the war in Chechnya, a security official and a prominent oil executive were elected as powerful regional governors in elections held across Russia, news agencies said Monday.

The most-watched race was that of Sibneft oil company head Roman Abramovich, who won election of the remote Chukotka region across the Bering Strait from Alaska with 90 percent of the vote Sunday, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. Abramovich is one of the so-called oligarchs - the politically influential businessman who control much of Russia's natural resources wealth.

Abramovich, 34, already represents Chukotka in the lower house of parliament, a post he'll have to give up to become governor.

Russia's 89 governors have wide authority within their domains, though President Vladimir Putin has tried to trim their influence recently.

Another well-known figure winning a post was Vladimir Shamanov, a former top commander in Russia's war to subdue separatists in Chechnya. Voters chose Shamanov as governor of the Ulyanovsk region on the Volga River, giving him 56 percent of the vote over the incumbent, Yury Goryachev.

Troops from Shamanov's Western Group of Forces were accused by New York-based Human Rights Watch of looting and burning the Chechen village of Alkhan-Yurt in December, 1999, and killing at least 14 villagers, including elderly men and women. Shamanov denied there were any abuses and was later decorated by then-President Boris Yeltsin for his service in Chechnya.

In the Voronezh region in southern Russia, Vladimir Kulakov, the head of the local Federal Security Service, or FSB, defeated governor Ivan Shabashov, 60 percent to 15 percent. Kulakov's election continues a trend of former security service officials serving in high civilian office. The FSB is the main successor to the Soviet KGB.

Incumbents were re-elected in four other regions, including Alexei Lebed, the governor of the Khakassia region in Siberia. Lebed is the brother of Alexander Lebed, govenor of another Siberian region, Krasnoyarsk.