United Russia plans to nominate Sergey Sechenov, a participant in the war with Ukraine, as speaker of the Tomsk City Duma, independent deputy Evgeny Kaverzin reported on October 29.
Evgeny Kaverzin revealed that the discussion on appointing a new Duma speaker will take place at the next meeting. He indicated that United Russia deputies intend to nominate Sergey Sechenov for the role.
Sechenov joined the Tomsk City Duma in September, filling the mandate left by Andrey Fateyev, a former ally of Alexey Navalny. Fateyev fled Russia and was placed on the federal wanted list under Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code for organizing an extremist group using his official position.
Local media have dubbed Sechenov a "veteran of the Special Military Operation (SMO)." In an interview, he boasted that Ukrainian soldiers had "offered a 14 million ruble reward" for his capture. As a deputy, Sechenov has expressed plans to focus on patriotic education for youth.