And..Abramovich Returns..!
(Pic – Moscow Times, Kopin sworn in, as Abramovich watches) Yesterday, the new Governor of Chukotka (Roman Kopin) was sworn in and not long afterwards, the former Governor Roman Abramovich – whose personal riches completely transformed the province’s fortunes – announced that he would be running for the post of speaker in the Chukotka Duma.
This is a surprising move, as it seemed that he had grown tired of governing Chukotka (he spends only a handful of days a year there), but he may have been moved to action by the pleas of the former speaker Vasily Nazarenko who offered to step down if Abramovich promised to return.
New Governor Kopin is part of the young team that Abramovich created to transform the region – and he has been head of the Chaunsky and Bilibino regions, has a good knowledge of the issues facing reindeer husbandry and other traditional livelihoods in the region. Quoted in a Times article from 2003, Kopin said,
To love this place you have to be a particular kind of person or to have been born here.
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