United Russia has decided to help the president improve the management of state-owned companies. To replace the senior officials who are supposed to leave the boards of directors of FSK, MRSK, Inter RAO, and RusHydro, it is proposing four prominent party members. Reportedly, Putin does not object. ... Among the candidates are Vladimir Pekhtin, first deputy head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament); Georgy Boos, former governor of the Kaliningrad Region; Yevgeny Tugolukov, chairman of the State Duma committee on natural resources; and Vladimir Golovnyov, first deputy chairman of the committee on economic policy and co-chairman of Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia, a business association). Prime Minister’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that such a letter had been received and that these nominees were being considered alongside others. According to a United Russia member and a federal official, the appointment of the people listed has already been agreed with Putin, and the Ministry of Economic Development is now working out the technical details. ... All the United Russia members recommended by Gryzlov, except Golovnyov, have ties to the energy sector. Boos, who is being tipped to replace Sechin as chairman of the board of directors of Inter RAO, graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree as an electrical engineer specializing in lighting equipment. ... According to the United Russia source, appointing party members to state companies is an important pre-election move: the authorities will show that they are promoting their own representatives, while also freeing up seats in the State Duma for members of the All-Russia People’s Front (a political coalition) to enter parliament.* www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article/261304/po_sovetam