MOSCOW, March 5 (UPI) -- Russia's State Duma Friday overwhelmingly approved former trade envoy Mikhail Fradkov as the country's new prime minister, the Interfax news agency reported.
The Duma, the main chamber of the Russian parliament, approved Fradkov by a vote of 352 to 58. His victory reflected the personal dominance that Presidnet Vladimir Putin enjoys over the parliament The United Russia Party, which supports him, controls more than two thirds of the Duma's 450 seats.
Putin Monday stunned the country by announcing that Fradkov, the previously obscure Russian envoy to the European Union, was his choice to replace widely respected veteran Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. The president replaced his old prime minister in the run up to March 14's presidential election, which he is expected to win in a landslide.
