Moscow, Jan. 24 (RFE/RL) - The upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council, today elected four deputy chairmen to head the body along with Chairman Yegor Stroyev.
The four deputy chairmen are Tatarstan State Council Chairman Vassily Likhachev, Lipetsk region Duma Chairman Oleg Korolev, Krasnoyarsk region Governor Vassily Zubov and the President of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, Valery Kokov.
The Federation Council was originally set to have three deputy chairmen, but legislators amended the chamber's rules to include Kokov, whose republic lies in the troubled Caucasus region.
All four men are political insiders with long, stable careers in state service. None of them are known as champions of radical economic reforms.