RUSSIA: AGRARIAN PARTY EXPERIENCES DRAMATIC SHAKE-UP
Altai Republic President Mikhail Lapshin was unseated as head of the Agrarian Party at the party's congress on
28 April, Russian media reported. Party delegates voted to replace Lapshin, 69, with Deputy Vladimir Plotnikov (Unified
Russia), deputy chairman of the Duma's Agriculture Committee. Lapshin's ouster had been predicted in wake of
the party's poor showing in the 7 December State Duma elections. Plotnikov told reporters on 29 April that the
party will cooperate more closely with the Agro-Industrial Union, which is headed by Communist Tula Oblast Governor
Vasilii Starodubtsev, and with the Russian Agrarian Movement, which is headed by Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeev.
Gordeev is also a member of Unified Russia's Supreme Council. "Vremya novostei" concluded that the
Agrarian Party has ceased to exist as an opposition force. JAC Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the
permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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