Vadim Gustov

Gustov was the head of the Leningrad Oblast Council of People's Deputies until it was dissolved in October 1993.^[2] In 1994, he served as chairman of the Federation Council's Commonwealth of Independent States affairs committee.^[3] He was elected as the governor of Leningrad Oblast in September 1996, taking 53% of the votes.^[2] He was independent, but was supported by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.^[4] He replaced Alexander Belyakov in the aforementioned post.^[4]

Gustov served as governor until his appointment as first deputy prime minister on 18 September 1998.^[5][6] He was succeeded by Valery Serdyukov as the governor of Leningrad Oblast.^[4]

Gustov, an independent politician, was one of two first deputy prime ministers in the cabinet of Yevgeny Primakov and was in charge of regional affairs and the relations with former Soviet republics.^[7][8][9] Gustov's tenure lasted until 27 April 1999 when he was removed from post by Russian president Boris Yeltsin.^[6][10] Gustov was succeeded by Sergei Stepashin in the post.^[10][11]

In the 1999 and 2003 elections Gustov ran for the governorship of Leningrad Oblast, but he lost both elections.^[12] In January 2002 he became a senator at the Federation Council, representing Vladimir Oblast.^[13] He was again the chairman of the council's CIS affairs committee during this period.^[14]

Since December 2011 Vadim Gustov is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Leningrad Oblast. He ran on the list of the United Russia party. On 4 July 2012, he was elected vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly.^[15]

Gustov was an anti-Yeltsin figure in the 1990s.^[2] He was not a communist and did not support the concept of a planned economy.^[2]

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