March 23, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – March 23rd, 2009

230309.jpgTODAY: Murmansk mayor leaves his post over rumors of Kremlin clampdown; Lavrov calls NATO dealings in former Soviet states ‘unfair’; Poland says missile agreement was a risk; Shuvalov doubtful over G20; Russia trying to win back ex-pats.

Just a week after independent candidate Sergei Subbotin won the Murmansk mayoral elections, beating his United Russia rival, reports say that President Dmitry Medvedev has replaced Yuri Yevdokimov, the region’s governor, a United Russia official who supported Subbotin during the election campaigns.  The move ‘suggests that the Kremlin wanted to clamp down quickly on hints of disloyalty among its cadre of governors as it faces possible discontent at the regional level over the financial crisis.’  Other reports suggest that Yevdokimov ‘resigned’.  Opposition party A Just Russia is putting forward a candidate for the already ‘crowded’ Sochi mayoral elections.